Death of Me
by Everything'sGonnaBeAlright
Summary: THIS author is leaving, sorry guys, hope you all enjoyed what there was of the story. But, good news, co-author, Fangirlandtheories, is taking over and revamping the story, which means it will probably end up even better than the current version! You're truly an awesome writer and good luck FGaT! :) It's been so much fun writing with you!
1. Chapter 1

Her face took on a confused look as they walked down the aisle in the library. "Ten years ago I was in the hospital…"

"Right…. With your tumor…" Flynn sucked a breath in whilst flinching. Jones, Baird, and Stone turned to look at her. Confusion, surprise, and a bit of horror were evident in their expressions. Jones looked away for a moment, seeming to be very upset about something, before turning his eyes back to her like the others.

Flynn continued to explain how he had deducted the horrible truth that Cassandra had hoped to hide.

"How… big is it?" He asked, his shoulders shrugging a bit as he tried to put it delicately.

"It's about the size of a grape." She responded in a small voice. She saw no point in trying to deny it. She smiled awkwardly.

"Which I really wish they hadn't told me because I used to really like grapes." She said in an attempt at a joke, Jones looked a slight bit hesitant but asked,

"Are you… ?" She cut him off,

"Not yet." She paused to smile at him sadly, but he looked down, avoiding her eyes. She seemed to accept that, as if it happened often, and continued,

"Someday... sooner then I'd like, but… not yet." She clasped her hands and filled in the awkward silence surrounding her by cheerily continuing her discussion on the shortness of her life, wanting to finish it and change the subject,

"But I lived long enough to know magic exists! So that's pretty cool!" Flynn put his hand out towards her as if saying that he'll agree to the subject change.

"Very cool!" He agreed.

They journeyed onward through the library; Stone explaining he didn't go to the library due to already having a work placement. Jones in turn telling them he assumed the letter was misaddressed, claiming that no library would want a thief working for them. Cassandra privately disagreed and felt distressed by what he said, thinking anyone would be glad to have someone as bright and creative as him. She felt some sort of connection to him but tried to dissuade it due to the fact she had just met him and with her tumor there was no opportunity to feel a connection with a man she had recently met.

But **_ye gods_** did she want to, she thought as he grinned and winked at her while making a joke to annoy the others as they walked through the hallway after deciding to go to Europe.


	2. Chapter 2

**So... Hey. Wow, been on here for around a year and a half or two years and I still have no idea what to say... Anyway, thanks for the reviews, loved them, thanks. :) So um, this is kinda just the same sorta thing as the last chapter except it's Jones, this story will be Jones centric, and this and the last chapter are kinda intro-ish. EzekielKats; Thanks for reading! Hope you're enjoying it! Junior Librarian; Welcome to fanfiction and thanks for your review, I love Supernatural, and I LOVE Leo Valdez, so thank you so much for saying it reminded you of them! VampirePrincess86; Glad my summary caught your interest, I can only hope that my story keeps your attention! h2o48; Thanks so much for saying I have talent, I really appreciate that! I really hope that I can keep doing whatever it is I did to give you that crazy notion! ;) Anyway, hope all readers enjoy this!**

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His mother wasn't a great mother, but she was his mother. He loved her, she was probably one of his best friends; It was a bit hard to have friends at school your age when you were always preoccupied worrying someone was going to ask you where your bruises were from.

Jones hated his father, he was a cruel man, Jones's mother could have attested to that. She wasn't a great mother, but she did the best she could with his father around.

When he heard that the girl he met, Cassandra, had that **_thing_** in her head, it just made him think of his mom, horrible flashbacks flying through his mind.

He had to look down, away from her, even though he knew she'd think he pitied her. He didn't pity her, he knew she would want that as much as his mom did, but he couldn't look at her while he was reliving the pain his mom and he went through after they found out about the horrible fate awaiting her.

He felt something different towards her, something more than his usual feelings towards women. Sure, he'd had lots of casual girlfriends and such, but that was just because women dug the whole thief thing for some reason. He actually felt something; something exciting, something real, something good, **_something_** he was looking forward to exploring further. While they were discussing going to Europe, he thought,

_'You may not know it yet, but you're going to have feelings for me like I do for you, whether you want it to happen or not. Because, Cassandra Cillian, I am going to __**steal**__ your heart. I am a thief after all.' _

He knew it made no sense, he'd just met this girl, learned that her time was pretty limited, told her and the others that he was a thief, and… oh yeah, had he mentioned he'd just met her?

_'But then again,'_ he thought, _'when have I ever made sense? __**When in my entire life, have I made sense?**__ So what if I just met her? I can't like her cause I only just met her? So what if her time is limited? 'All the better reason to make the most of the time there is.' That's what mom always said. So what if I'd just told her I was a thief? She didn't seem so repulsed. I don't care if all of that sounds crazy, I don't care if it __**is **__crazy. Nothing in my entire life, has ever made any sense whatsoever, so why should now be any different? Screw logic, no way I'm not going to pursue this… and have fun doing it.' _

He winked and smiled mischievously at her while annoying the others with his jokes.

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**So yeah, there's that... Kinda boring and similar to the last chapter, but I wanted to do it from Ezekiel's point of view... Anyway, next chapter gets kinda dark and... well a bit odd I guess. I had just watched the first episode of this creepy show called Eyecandy when I was writing it, it wasn't even on purpose, it was late at night and I had on Youtube and an ad came on before my music and I thought it was just a preview but it turned out to be the entire first episode, I watched it for awhile thinking it would be over in a minute and then by the time I realized it was the whole episode I needed to know what was happening so I watched the whole thing even though it was super creepy... Yeah, I know there was no reason to tell all of you all this, but ya know... That's why the next two chapters are gonna be dark.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Moonbeam141; Yep, I'm not going to do all dark, but it's a good idea to be prepared just for when I do do dark chapters. Ezekiel and Cassandra definitely have chemistry in my opinion. The maze in particular made me think that, but yes, the trophy and other instances led me to think that as well. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoy! h2o48; Thanks, hope I keep writing well then! SarakEko; I love Jones/Cassandra too! Thanks, I'm trying my best to make his past interesting, I'm not sure quite how angsty I'm going to go with his past yet though. EzekielKats; Haha, sorry about that, I thought you were a fanfiction user named MissKat18 that posted a few Ezekiel/Cassandra fics, great fics by the way, you should check them out! Oh, and props for being the most persistent reviewer, ;) thanks!  
**

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Jones's decided he didn't really care that she had betrayed them to the Serpent Brotherhood, if he had a chance to get rid of a tumor in his head he would have done it too.

Though, him being him, it was understandable, everyone would expect it of him, the cold thief who cared only for himself. Yeah right, he had tried caring for others before; it never ended well for him. His hands instantly went to touch multiple scars before one hand stopped to rest on a particularly nasty scar hidden under his shirt on his upper back.

One morning, just a few days after their first adventure where Excalibur unfortunately met his demise, Ezekiel was joking around with Cassandra, it being one of her better days where she could focus on what was going on around her instead of the numbers and words she saw in front of her, when Stone came in and handed him a brown packaging box, saying it was addressed to him.

Curious at who would possibly send a package to him and who would know he was staying there, at the annex, he opened it and felt a small story book fall out, like the type a small child would be read to by their parent, except, disappointingly, there didn't seem to be any pictures.

Ezekiel read the name on the cover and turned pale; He quickly moved it out of the sight of Cassandra, who was peering over his shoulder in curiosity. A few days ago when he met Cassandra he would have been ecstatic she was putting her chin on his shoulder, but he couldn't let her see that… book, that **_thing_**... it would tell her waaay too much about his personal life, and though he liked her, **_nobody _**got to know **_anything_** about his life. He mumbled a quick excuse and bounded away, stuffing the book under his hoodie until he made it to his room in the annex, where he had been living. Taking a deep breath he pulled the book out from under his hoodie and looked at it again, hoping his eyes had been wrong, but they hadn't.

**_'_****_The Thief Boy, His Tragic Life, &amp; His Death'_**

**_'_**_There was no one who understood the boy, they didn't, __**couldn't**__, understand why he was the way he was, and he felt_ _no great urge to tell them about how bad his childhood had been, especially since he knew they wouldn't ever be able to comprehend it without having been in the same situation._

_So he didn't tell anyone about how his father beat him into oblivion every night. _

_How his mother, his best friend, his only friend, the only person he had ever loved in his whole life had died because of a brain tumor the night before he turned thirteen. _

_How he eventually ran away from his cruel father, living on the streets, dying of starvation and sickness until a thief had happened across him while breaking into a house in the street the boy was dying in. _

_The thief took him in, practically raised the child for his teen years, taught him everything he knew, acted as the father he never knew. Then one day, during a heist, the thief realized that the boy he had raised, had found starving, the weak, pathetic boy wasting away to nothing, had talents far outstripping his own, he worried the boy would one day cut him out of heists, taking all of the hauls for himself, after all, whilst they had several years spent together there was no affection between the two. _

_Neither the thief, nor the boy, had anyone in their lives left that they trusted, loved, cared about… There was no trust between the boy and the thief, just a partnership and acceptance. Except, the thief found that the partnership and acceptance was starting to wear thin, he was tired of the constant paranoia that the boy would stab him in the back. So that's what the thief did. They had been in the middle of a heist at the time, they had just stolen the piece they'd gone for, or the boy had anyway, the thief had to stand there uselessly watching the boy, they triggered the alarm though, and the thief, seeing it as the best plan of escape, stabbed the boy in the back, leaving a very deep wound, it was not very likely he would survive, but it would slow down the cops one way or the other, the thief would get the haul, and he no longer had to worry about the boy becoming a better thief than he. _

_Yet somehow, the pestering boy continued to live, he managed to elude capture by the cops as well. _

_The boy dragged himself out of there; desperate fingers clawing at the floor, blood draining out of his body, impossible pained screams coming out of his throat, the thief wondered to himself why the boy didn't just let himself die… What __**did**__ the boy have left to live for? The thief thought the boy might not know either, as anguished, confused sobs were bursting through his mouth as he struggled to survive. The thief didn't stop watching the boy then, no, he never let his eye off his competition, the boy somehow survived, he became a great thief, the best thief, and the thief's hate of the boy grew, until it reached the point where he was obsessed with ruining the boy at any cost. Revenge was the only thing left in his mind. _

_All that saw him thought him insane, perhaps he was, but he didn't care. For the next several years the thief watched the boy, never losing track of him, never unknowing of the boy's whereabouts. _

_The insanity drove him to illness and death overtook him. Or did it? _

**_The End'_**

Ezekiel was hyperventilating as he finished it, then he saw it, a note written in the back of the book.

'**Can you really hide from your destiny, boy? Your fate? The boy may have become the thief, but the first thief became something else too. Tic toc, out runs your clock…' **

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**Hope ya'll enjoyed it! Thanks for the reviews everybody!**


	4. Chapter 4

**So this chapter has been changed a little bit... Basically not at all. It's just a little to fit in the part about MI6... No one will probably even figure out what it is.. ;) It'd be cool if someone did figure out what it was I changed though. :P Thanks for all the awesome reviews guys. Trying to write something new for this... Can't find inspiration... Also, if anyone is willing, I would love to have a beta, I have no idea how it works though... or anything... I just know I need one cause I keep finding a bunch of mistakes and it's driving me craaaazzzzyyyyy... Also I need to know if anything I'm writing is any good... so yeah, a beta is what I need! :D :P**

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Ezekiel had blocked out the memory of that night as well as he could, the fear, betrayal, pain, desperation, and worst, the thought of giving up. The memories of all the nights his father abused him didn't even come close. All of the memories of that night came flooding back now though.

***Flashback***

**There was a knife sticking out of his back. His fingernails were trying to find anything to grasp and use to pull his body across the floor out of the building. Oh god, the pain. He had been dying, again, and the only thing he could think was,**

** '****_Why don't I just stay here and die? Not like there's anyone who'd care._****' But he kept going, kept trying to drag his failing body out of the building before the cops came, his fingernails jagged, his blood pooling around him, his vision almost going black. **

**The only reason he kept going was he saw his mother standing at the doorway, shouting silently to him, hand ushering him forward, her beautiful face desperate. **

** He wanted to die so badly, he was a dying eighteen year old boy with no one to trust, nothing to live for, and nothing he'd amount to. He didn't really care for the thief, but he had trusted him. **

**He had never told the thief that he had trusted him; always hiding behind the pretense that he was untrusting so he as not to seem a naïve young boy, being naïve was a bad rep when you were a thief. **

**He screamed in agony as he pulled himself out the door and dragged himself away from the cops that would get there soon. He dragged himself through many side alleys and let himself pass out in the middle of a residents' street. **

**As his eyesight disappeared completely he saw his mom screaming, her mouth a perfect o shape and terror in her gentle brown eyes. **

**When he woke up he was in the hospital, completely unable to focus on anything due to drugs for the pain. **

**A nurse came in and told him that a couple had found him outside of their house and that he had had no pulse when they saw him early in the morning. They had taken him to the hospital, determining he wouldn't survive if they waited for an ambulance. Once they had been assured that he would live they had left and returned to their normal lives, he assumed they were afraid to be associated with a man who clearly had been in with a bad crowd if the knife in his back told anybody anything. He figured the family had found him before the police had found the blood trail and located him. After he was healed enough he snuck out of the hospital, not having any insurance as he had no identity since he was keeping hidden from his father. **

**He settled into a vacated apartment and healed the rest of the way; he almost never left the apartment, staring at the wall for the majority of his days, sometimes taking a handful of pain pills, hoping for either relief, of pain or of memories, or for death. **

**He couldn't die from overdosing on the pills though, because he never had any food, and an empty stomach and pills didn't mix. The time that he didn't spend staring at the wall taking pills he spent throwing up. **

**After a few weeks he got himself mostly back together and started to steal again, although he was much slower than he used to be, but he was still the best thief around. **

**There wasn't much else between then and the present that had happened in his life. Stealing, becoming an adult, everyday stuff he supposed. And there was that other thing… But well…, those days were kind of over since he joined the library. ****_Kind of_…**

***Flashback Over***

"Ezekiel! Are you around? Jones! Where are you?" He heard Cassandra's voice, but by this point he was hyperventilating very badly and the only thing he could do before he passed out was stash the book away before she found him and saw it. He fell to the ground and the last thing he remembered was his head hitting the hard marble floor.

"Zeke!" Cassandra shrieked, frantically calling for the others.

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**Thanks for reading slash re-reading y'all!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm slightly embarrassed to say that I've lost track of what reviews I've already responded to, but thank you, everyone, for your patience and the lovely reviews. I hope you all enjoy this chapter! My next several chapters are my favorites of what I've written so far!**

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Jones woke up feeling like hell; Shaky, weak, and uncomfortable.

He groaned as he tried to sit up, Cassandra, Stone, and Baird instantly crowding him. Baird was first to speak, her being the guardian,

"Jones! What the hell happened, dude? Why did you pass ou-" Jenkins briskly walked over with a flashlight and interrupted her, telling Jones to follow the light with his eyes.

"He has a concussion, Colonel Baird. From what Miss Cillian said he hit his head fairly hard, so that's not surprising. What I think we'd all like to know is…" They all leaned in, knowing what Jenkins was going to ask him, Jones swallowed hard, not knowing what he was going to respond with, "why did you pass out, Mr. Jones?"

Jones licked his lips, looking away from them, trying to conceal the shaking in his hands and his inability to focus his eyes on anything.

"I wasn't feeling well." They all leaned back, looking dissatisfied with the vague answer. He breathed out, hoping they'd all go away now and he could take his pain pills, he felt horrible, it must have been a few hours since he had passed out, way too long to go without his pills anyhow. Cassandra raised her eyebrow and he knew he was in for it,

"You weren't feeling well? That's what you're going with, Zeke? Not feeling well means feeling a bit sick, maybe… **_maybe_** throwing up! Not acting all strange, running out of a room, then passing out hitting your head on a **_really_** hard floor!" By the end she was shouting and his head was starting to hurt from the concussion and her yelling, and he was sweating badly from the need to take his pain pills. He grabbed his head and groaned. He closed his eyes tightly and heard Baird ask Cassandra not to yell because it was worse for someone with a concussion.

"Fine, sorry I yelled, Ezekiel. Just, please, don't downplay it. Ok? Just don't!" He opened his eyes just in time to see her turn and storm off. He looked at the others in confusion,

"What's with her?" They glanced at each other cautiously.

"She was just worried." Stone replied, standing there awkwardly. Ezekiel looked over at him suspiciously,

"Why?" Stone snorted and the three looked at Jones incredulously.

"Figure it out for yourself, _Zeke_." Baird said, patting him on the back a bit condescendingly. He scowled,

"Don't call me that!" Baird raised an eyebrow at him challengingly with a smirk. He didn't understand what she was trying to say there, so he just rolled his eyes and closed them when he realized rolling them hurt.

"C'mon boys, let's go and let Jones rest… and **_think_**." Jenkins and Stone snickered and Jones heard them follow Baird out.

He lifted the arm he had thrown over his eyes and picked his head up, comprehension dawning on his features,

"Wait… Guys! When did Cass start calling me Zeke? I hate that nickname! Guys!?" They kept walking and he flumped back down frustrated… and shaky… and sweaty…**_ so_** shaky and sweaty. He looked around for his pill bottle, knowing it had to be around his person, it always was. He remembered that they had been in his pants pocket and checked,

'_Yeah, still there. Thank God._' He reached over for the water the others had left him with and took some of the pills. He laid back and waited for them to work, wondering why Cassandra had been so pissed at him.

And when she'd started calling him Zeke… He hated that nickname; It was what his dad always called him when he was about to hurt him, it was what the thief had called him while he lived with him. But it wasn't all bad, his mom had always called him that and he loved it when she called him that, but now any memory to do with his mother hurt, just another reminder that everything that mattered to him always went away. So the fact Cassandra was angry at him made him really upset, he was worried she'd turn away from him too, he didn't even know why she was angry at him...

He fell back to sleep and didn't notice Cassandra come back in by herself, wringing her hands, her face twisted with worry and indecision.

He certainly didn't see her come closer, her face smoothing to more soft features when she realized he'd fallen back asleep.

Nor did he feel her run her hand through his hair affectionately, her other hand briefly taking his limp hand, squeezing it gently.

And he didn't hear her whisper softly,

"This better be nothing, Zeke… Because while it scares me for obvious reasons like the fact I don't have the time left in my life to get attached to people; I can't be a librarian without your craziness backing me up… And I can't be me without your **_madness_**. So don't even think about it being anything other than you're 'not feeling well'."

And the thing he didn't see or feel that would make him the most upset had he known he was missing it, he didn't feel her kiss the palm of the hand she was holding before letting go and walking back out, briefly turning in the doorway and sending him one more worried look before going to find the others.

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**Hope ya'll enjoyed it! Now I gotta get back to writing new chapters, going to run out of chapters to post soon! **


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you to all of my TOTALLY AWESOME reviewers, special thanks to my repeat reviewers, and an even more special thanks to EzekielKats, who's faith hasn't wavered in my posting more chapters, even when mine did. I wasn't going to post this chapter yet, because I haven't written anything new lately and I only have two more chapters written after this, BUT I happened to check my account and someone who goes by the name EzekielKats showed me that there are some people there are actually waiting and checking for another chapter, and I find that so incredibly flattering and uplifting, so thank you, EzekielKats for being the best reviewer I've even had the pleasure of having and an amazing inspiration!**

Jones woke up screaming, his voice ringing through the room. Cassandra leapt out of the armchair she had been sleeping in and ran over to him, she put one hand on his arm and the other cupped his face. He started whimpering as he woke up, the darkness making him confused and unsure of what was happening. Cassandra whispered softly,

"Ezekiel? You're ok. It's ok. Ezekiel, wake up."

"Cassandra?" He whimpered, "What are you doing here?" She turned on the light next to his bed, and looked at him worriedly before responding,

"You were hurt earlier… and I was **_scared_**… and I-I wanted to make sure nothing happened…. So I stayed here for the night, I hope you don't mind." Ezekiel sat up in his bed, the blanket falling down slightly leaving him shivering.

"Mind?" Ezekiel laughed in disbelief, "Cass, that's the nicest thing anyone has done for me in a very long time. Thank you." He reached for her hand and gently pulled her down so she was sitting on the bed right next to his feet. She pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapped her arms around them, and smiled kindly before looking at him thoughtfully.

"Ezekiel… What happened this morning? One moment you're standing there taking this package from Stone, the next you're looking sick and running out of the room, and then I find you passing out right in front of me hitting your head on the floor and getting hurt and… I'm babbling, aren't I?" She stopped, her eyes filling with tears that she tried to hide by looking at her knees. Ezekiel was so unused to seeing someone cry over him that he had no idea to react, so he just apologized thinking he had upset her,

"Sorry." She looked up in confusion,

"Why are you sorry?" She sounded shocked and he just shrugged avoiding her eyes.

"You were angry at me earlier… I must have done something to upset you. I guess I've gotten so used to the way I do everything that I don't even know when I upset the people that actually matter. I'm sorry, Cass." She sighed, squeezing his hand and looking guilty.

"I wasn't angry at you… I was just scared, when I saw you pass out, I thought… I thought you had something really wrong with you. When I found out about my tumor it started with feeling odd, then feeling sick, then horrible headaches, and then… passing out for no reason. I didn't know what was wrong with you and I was scared that you had a tumor too. I know that's silly, but it was the first thing that popped into my head." He looked into her eyes, some sort of hidden pain briefly showing through to her.

"It's not silly, it's completely understandable. I was showing a lot of the symptoms, if I were you I would have thought that first too, I'm sorry you had to worry about me and that you had to sleep in an uncomfortable chair and all of that… but thank you, Cassandra, truly thank you." He smiled at her; she smiled back and got up, going back to the chair and curling up in it, whispering,

"You should get some rest so your concussion heals, Zeke." He nodded, but he saw how uncomfortable she looked in that chair and patted the side of his bed. She tilted her head at him, a smile lit up her face and she got up from the chair, jumping ungracefully onto his bed and slipping under the covers. He wrapped his arm around her waist and turned the light back off. She tucked her head under his chin and they both fell asleep a lot more comfortable than they had been.

"Oh for goodness sake!" Jenkins exclaimed the next morning, having come in to check on Jones, "Why have I been cursed with the job of babysitting you adolescents!" Waking up quickly, they pulled away from each other abruptly, blushes adorning both of their faces.

**This is the chapter I am most proud of out of the chapters I've written so far of this story. :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Right... sooo... slowly writing some chapters for this... Feeling very depressed lately. Not feeling like writing too much... Thanks for the reviews everyone! Thanks for the unending faith in me EzekielKats!**

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Stone snickered at them as they shrunk from Baird's stern look; He was leaning against the door frame with his arms folded and one leg crossed in front of the other. Jenkins just looked thoroughly put out, glaring at Ezekiel and Cassandra.

"Wanna explain this, guys?" Baird asked, raising her eyebrow at them.

"Well we… I mean… we didn't… What I'm trying to say is, we didn't-" Ezekiel stuttered with a blush on his face, trying to explain. Cassandra cut him off,

"We were just sleeping. I was worried about him with the concussion so I slept in the armchair until he woke up in the middle of the night and we talked for a while and then I went back to the armchair to sleep but it was really uncomfortable and I think Zeke could tell so he told me I could share the bed, that's all." She gasped in a breath having said all of that at once so no one would interrupt her.

They all looked at her in confusion while trying to figure out what she said.

Then Ezekiel smiled realizing she hadn't told them about his nightmares. She tilted her head at him in confusion when she saw the curious smile on his face directed at her. He discreetly shook his head at her, still smiling, trying to convey he didn't want to talk about it in front of the others.

"Ok, if that's all that happened, that's fine." Baird stated resolutely, something about that sentence bothered Cassandra and she wrinkled her nose while trying to figure it out.

She figured it out right as Baird started to leave the room,

"Why do you have control of our love lives? I mean, sure nothing happened between Zeke and I, but why is it any of your concern? Just because you're my guardian in regards to work, doesn't mean you get to tell me who I can and can't be with." Baird turned, and for a moment Cassandra thought she might have seen hurt in Baird's expression, before she her face was covered with blatant honesty, "I'm not, I just don't want either of you to get hurt and then not be able to work together efficiently," Baird finished in a lower voice, "and believe it or not, Cassandra, I do care about if you two get hurt, I assumed we were at least something similar to friends." Cassandra flinched at the soft spoken harsh words as Baird left the room without glancing back, Stone and Jenkins following.

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**Hope everyone enjoys it!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thanks to all of my reviewers and readers. I'm very thankful for all your support and interest.  
EzekielKats... thank you for never giving up on me... I really can't even begin to tell you how much your reviews have meant to me in regards to continuing this story and even more than that, you've literally had an effect on my life. The fact that you're so interested in something _I_**** made, that you think it's any good, has repeatedly given me the stamina to keep going, time after time again, you've really been incredible, so thank you.**

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"I really messed up there, didn't I?" She asked quietly after the others had gone, Ezekiel studied her for a moment, indecision flitting across his face as he sought out an answer to reply with.

"It was a bit mean, but Baird will be fine with you, she always will, you know that, Cass." She bit her lip and nodded, looking a bit sad; Jones wished he knew how to make her feel better.

"Hey, Cass," he started, nervous about his next words, "we're friends right? I mean, I know we only just met a few weeks ago and we've only gone out into the crazy field, where we ended up responsible for the death of a sword, once; but we're friends right?" He looked at her anxiously, his dark eyes betraying how nervous he was to her.

Wondering why he was asking, and why he looked like he was preparing himself for disappointment, she nodded immediately. His eyes instantly showing his surprise in her answer, his face broke into a grin.

"Well, I was thinking, since I can't really do much with this concussion, if we're friends, maybe we should do the get-to-know-you-questions?" He watched as a smile lit up her gorgeous face and felt his grin turn into a soft smile, feeling happier than he had in a long time.

She jumped back onto his bed, and same as the night before, wrapped her arms around her knees that she had pulled up to her chest.

"Do you want to go first or shall I?" He asked her and she immediately asked him a question,

"Favorite color?" He looked thoughtful for a moment then raised one finger in a 'Eureka!' sort of way,

"Fiery red. Yours?" She scrunched her nose in concentration and he couldn't help but find it adorable.

"Hmmm….. spring green, like when it starts getting warmer and the grass starts growing again and you forgot how vibrant green it was. It feels like a new beginning, like the cold stopped oppressing it and it has another chance to grow and live…" By the end her eyes had turned slightly sad and longing. Ezekiel knew she was thinking of herself as the grass and her tumor the cold. He thought quickly of something to say to cheer her up,

"Hey, Cassie, wanna hear something weird? In Australia Christmas is in _summer_… weird huh? Now that I live in America the thought of a warm Christmas is just odd, I love it when it snows on Christmas." Cassandra smiled teasingly while saying,

"I already know all of that, photographic memory, remember?"

"Yeah, I know, but have you ever really _thought_ about it?" She paused, looking at the ceiling while she thought, and then wrinkled her nose,

"No, I haven't, Christmas in the heat… That would be so different!" He grinned while nodding.

"Tell me about it." He said, his thoughts drifting off to his earlier years. Cassandra looked at him worriedly as he shuddered slightly, shaking his head with a frown as his thoughts of his past took a dark turn.

"Next question!" She chirped, trying to get his mind off of whatever was upsetting him.

"Alright…. Let me think…. Oh, got it!" He raised both hands theatrically, "Would you rather eat a salad or something from a fast food chain restaurant like McDonalds or Burger King?"

She smiled at the odd question, liking its originality.

"Definitely Burger King. I mean, I do like salads, but c'mon, fries and a chocolate milkshake in one hand, salad in the other; the winner is obvious." Jones nodded in agreement,

"Definitely, I love Burger King. If I had to choose between a nice restaurant and Burger King, I'm not sure which would win, that's how much I love Burger King." She laughed,

"I actually chose to go there for my birthday one year instead of this extremely fancy and expensive, really highly rated, restaurant my parents were willing to pay for. I actually managed to get a picture of their expressions when I told them of my decision; I knew how appalled they'd be so I had a camera ready." Jones snorted,

"Well your parents certainly sound like characters." Cassandra laughed a bit sarcastically, while raising her eyebrows exaggeratedly,

"They certainly are. What about your parents?" Something in Ezekiel's expression shifted slightly, and he tensed. She wondered if his parents were a touchy subject, she definitely had her issues with her parents but she still contacted them.

"What about them?" He asked evasively and she briefly wondered if she should just leave it before she decided she was too curious to leave it,

"What are your parents like? Where did you learn your 'thiefly' ways?" He looked amused,

"Thiefly? Is that a technical term?" She noticed that he was trying to change the subject and decided she'd catch him unaware on it later,

"Yes! Well, no… shut up!" She replied. She smiled as she gently shoved his arm, noting his smirk at her defensive tone.

"Next question?" He asked, smirk still in place. She nodded gratefully at him averting the subject and responded,

"Next question." She muttered, looking away. He opened his mouth but before he could get anything out she looked back up and interrupted,

"These are truthful answers right? Any question I ask you will get a real answer?" He closed his mouth and thought for a moment, knowing the repercussions of agreeing could be very bad for him, since he had so many secrets. Slowly he nodded,

"Yes, I'll answer truthfully. You can ask the next question if you want." She smiled and he smiled back nervously.

"Ok. Soo…. What caused you to be a thief?" He turned a bit pale; she noticed but pretended not to, storing the information for later.

"Umm… well, there were a lot of things. Guess it was just the easiest thing to do in my situation."

Cassandra nodded while noting that he had managed to finagle his way into answering truthfully, but not giving an answer to her that told her much about his reasoning.

"My turn?" She nodded to him, "What did you want most when you were a kid?"

"My parents to accept the life I wanted… My parents were pretty severe." She said, smiling sadly when he looked at her with a worried frown.

"What about you? What did Ezekiel Jones want as a kid?" She asked with an anticipatory smirk. He looked down and mumbled something, she couldn't hear it though.

"What?" She asked, prodding him gently.

"My mom… she was… sick. And my dad... he had a lot of problems too. Every night, before bed, I'd wish that we could just be a family, a **_normal _**family." Cassandra watched the expression on his face and saw the pain behind his usually carefree eyes. She placed her hand on top of his lightly, trying to comfort him. He tried to smile at her to reassure her he was alright, but it came out more of a pained grimace.

"Zeke….." She said, smirking as she said it, knowing how much he hated it. As she had hoped he grinned at her and the mood lightened again,

"Next question!" He exclaimed, she laughed and they happily questioned each other about light subjects for a few hours.

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**Eh, not really thrilled with this chapter, but it is what it is I guess. **


	9. Chapter 9

**Sooooooo... I live... Yeah... Librarians marathon on the seventh made me get back on the bandwagon... So this is an incredibly long chapter... Mostly cause it's an actual episode and I didn't feel like I could cut off in the middle of it and make several chapters outta it cause there's no cliffhanger where that's concerned seeing as everyone probably knows how this episode ends... Sooooo... Yeah... I only have part of a chapter written after this so it'll probably be a long while before I post anymore... Hopefully not though. Shout out to reviewers and shout out to EzekielKats as usual cause you are awesome, not that the rest of my reviewers aren't, alls ya'll are awesome!**

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"And you're willing to risk your life for him?" Baird asked, stepping forward with a serious look on her face. A few seconds silence and then,

"I won't risk my life, but I assume I can outrun anything, so… I'm in." Ezekiel interjected, staying in character.

'_Liar._' A voice whispered in his head, '_You'd love it if something happened and you could die without looking like a coward, this is the opportunity you've been looking for._'

Baird looked at each of them while letting out a long breath. Her eyes settled on Ezekiel and narrowed, as if she knew he was thinking about something she wouldn't sign off on.

"Fine." The librarians grinned and Ezekiel whispered something to Cassandra that Stone and Baird couldn't hear. She continued, "But we're going in with a _plan_ and I want full breakdowns on the missing, backgrounds on their work places, magical and supernatural possibilities… oh god what have I done?" The others rushed around her, not listening to a word she said.

Oh god, the possibilities that the backdoor had with its magic travel powers gave Ezekiel a headache, or a rush, or _something_!

"It's a wormhole!" Cassandra giggled in delight and turned, "The backdoor is on the east coast…" She broke into a run and the others followed, she pushed the front door open,

"And the front door… is still on the west coast!" She giggled again and ran back in the previous direction; Ezekiel couldn't help but think her reaction to the whole thing utterly adorable.

Jenkins explained the way the door worked and Ezekiel interjected,

"Any door? Like say a bank vault door…?" Baird shot him a disapproving glare, "I'm asking for a mate." He recovered faux casually.

"We do this… you do," Baird slammed her hand down on his shoulder and he couldn't stop a flinch, something Stone didn't fail to notice, though he didn't bring it up, "what I say… when I say, clear?

They had been discussing the interns' disappearances with Ms. Willis and Mr. Franklin when Cassandra turned around to see Ezekiel wearing glasses, and oh dear lord was he cute!

He looked down at her through the bottom of his glasses and she smiled up at him. He shot her a quick grin before looking back towards Ms. Willis and acting like nothing had happened.

She assumed he must be using the glasses as a sort of disguise for some reason, though she failed to see why they needed disguises, but oh well; maybe it was just one of his quirks.

It didn't occur to her that he might actually need them, which he did, he usually wore contacts but he'd misplaced them that morning and was forced to wear his big geeky glasses that he hated. He hoped the others would think it was just him trying to be unique and that they didn't realize he needed these stupid things, he hated showing weakness.

They had gone downstairs without Baird and gotten lost, Cassandra made a comment about the lighting making her head hurt, and Ezekiel, feeling stressed about several things, did something very stupid,

"Are you sure it's not your brain grape about to pop?" She turned around with a vicious glare and he instantly felt guilty.

"Ok, new rule! How about we not refer to the _tumor_ that will one day _kill_ me as a '_brain grape_'." He avoided her gaze, upset with himself for being so insensitive when he knew perfectly well what she was going through. He turned the attention away from himself by pointing at the sign on the door and saying in a cheery voice,

"Ah, here we go, and here I was worried we were getting lost!" Stone reached forward and opened the door, the three looking on in horror at the skull filled room in front of them.

"Go, go!" Stone muttered and the three librarians ran away from the room.

They came to the realization that they were in a labyrinth, well some of them did,

"That's really stupid, there's _no_ way under a skyscraper that we're in a labyrinth." Ezekiel said while lock-picking a door. The door opened and they rushed through. They turned around just in time to see the door disappear and Stone groaned in frustration.

"Ok… maybe we _are_ in a labyrinth." Ezekiel amended. They ran through passageways trying to find their way out.

"Guys wait!" Cassandra exclaimed after several minutes of running, "Something isn't… mhhhmm… just give me a minute…."

"No no no. This is not the time, kid, ok? We gotta run because-" Stone started, only to get interrupted by Ezekiel,

"No! Do not say, 'Because the minotaur is coming!'! Because there is no Minotaur and I'll tell you why, in your myth, - with what's-his-face?" Stone stepped forward and hissed in a rush,

"Theseus!" Ezekiel nodded in agreement,

"Yeah, right, he _killed_ the minotaur! So the minotaur is dead, and if he's dead then he's not here! Right!?" They turned around to hear a growl and Ezekiel repeated himself,

"Right?"

Ezekiel was looking out for the 'minotaur' when he heard Stone and Cassandra fighting, he looked over and saw her having one of her episodes where she was looking at something no one else could see, he knew that it helped them, but it scared him to see her like that, it always seemed like she was in pain.

"Oi! Whatever issues you two are having, save it! I say we follow the brain grape." He didn't know why he did that again, when it made him feel so bad last time, but he was feeling a little jealous about the way Stone and Cassandra were fighting, like there was some sort of personal offense because of her betraying them, like there was something special between Stone and **_Ezekiel's_** Cass.

"We are not calling it a brain grape!" She screamed at him, anger and hurt flashing in her eyes. There was a loud bellow from the way they'd come and her eyes widened,

"Follow the brain grape… this way!" They ran out of the part of the cave-ish thing they were in.

They found their way back into a building and Baird called them in morse via shooting. Ezekiel posed the possibility that the minotaur might have heard the shots too to the others.

"I'm hoping we find Baird first…." They heard a growling and turned to see the monstrous minotaur. They stood there staring at it in a terrified shock. Shots rang out and the minotaur shuddered as the bullets hit their mark.

It turned and bore down on a determined Baird. The two charged each other and Baird slide under it at last second, shooting upwards at its face. It got up and they crammed into a walk-in closet. Jenkins opened a portal through the door and they jumped in, closing the door behind them. Baird and Stone rushed towards the door, Stone with a sword, Baird with her gun that seemed not to run out of bullets. Wrenching open the door they were looking down an alleyway towards a busy street. They slammed the doors shut again, looking frustrated and defeated.

Jenkins went on about normal Jenkins things then turned the conversation to questioning how their first time out went.

They looked at him incredulously, all four looking winded, and Stone dropped his sword to the floor, the clanging being Jenkins's only reply, other than the labored breath of the librarians and their guardian.

After they all got their breath back they decided to go shower off. (To be perfectly honest, Jenkins had pitched a fit when they said they wanted to discuss what had happened first, telling them candidly that they smelled terrible and he wouldn't have anything to do with them until they showered, and he did not stop his fit until they agreed they would shower first.) Then they would regroup.

Ezekiel looked towards Cassandra, wanting to talk to her on his own for a moment, but she saw him, glared, and when he sighed dejectedly and left to go get cleaned up, followed him.

"Ezekiel!" She exclaimed, anger in her tone. He didn't show any signs of hearing her, but did speed up; she sped up too, growling irately.

"You don't get to walk away like I upset you! Get back here!" He kept walking, not looking back, she almost thought he was going to keep ignoring her, but without turning back, he replied,

"I was going to talk to you, but you didn't act like you wanted anything to do with me, sooo…" She huffed, trying to match his pace and walk next to him or better yet in front of him so he couldn't avoid her. She couldn't, as he had started taking even bigger, faster steps to get away from her.

"Ezekiel!" She shouted, fury ringing out through her voice. He stopped, but wouldn't look at her.

"_What_?" He spat out. She grabbed his jaw with one hand and turned his face so he had to see her.

"_Look at me_." His eyes slowly moved to her and she tried to decipher his emotions, but his eyes were cold and closed off. Interesting, she knew due to her incredible memory that the eyes couldn't do that naturally from birth, and people had to train themselves to be able to empty their eyes of emotions. What did this thief have to hide in his life?

"What happened today? We've known each other for a few weeks now and that was the first time you've ever acted like that towards me. Did I do something? I mean, I'd expect it from Stone, he dislikes me because of the whole selling people out for the brain grape thing… damn, and now you have me calling it a brain grape now too. Ugh." He smiled slightly, but his eyes were still closed off. She sighed, her grip on his chin had loosened, but her hand remained there.

"Baird gets upset at all of us easily, and Jenkins is just Jenkins. But you… I don't know what I did… why are you angry at me?" He deflated and sighed, looking worn down, shaky, and pale.

"Look, Cass, you didn't do anything. I just don't like the arguing with Stone." He said it **_so_** believingly… She almost believed him, except she knew that he had been acting like that the whole time, not just when she had been arguing with Stone.

"You were upset before I started fighting with Stone, you kept calling the thing in my head a brain grape, like you didn't care that it's going to kill me." No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't keep the deep hurt out of her voice. Some sort of indescribable regret and pain crossed his face at that moment and she tried to analyze it quickly, knowing he'd hide it mere seconds after showing it, which he did.

"I'm sorry, Cass. I was feeling really stressed and I can't believe I said that about it… you know, popping. I guess I'm just kinda desensitized to that cause of everything that happened." He sighed at the end, biting his lip, looking at the floor before his head slowly came back up and his eyes widened in panic, realizing what he'd just said. Her eyes widened too and she quickly got out,

"Wait, cause of everything that happened? What happened?" His expression closed off again and she could feel him pull away from her hand that was still holding his jaw. She tightened her grip on it again and made him look at her.

"Zeke…" She said, trying to get him to respond.

His hand rose to touch the one holding his jaw and he held it for a moment before gently prying it off of him.

"I gotta go get a shower so that we can go talk to the others." He said quietly, he squeezed her hand that he was still holding despite it not holding his jaw anymore and then dropped it, walking away silently, leaving her to stand there wondering what had happened.

They regrouped, discussing theories and plans, all the time Cassandra watching Ezekiel worriedly. He ignored her staring, though he could feel it, and reminded them that he was a world class thief and that he could steal the string. He went through a bunch of jargon about what he was going to do and she looked at him thinking about how adorable it was to hear him talk geekinese. Her thoughts were instantly directed to earlier that day when he'd been wearing those glasses and how he'd looked, and she realized he wasn't wearing them anymore. Did that mean they had just been some sort of disguise like she'd assumed?

They found out they were back in the maze, the Minotaur attacked them again.

The librarians used their genius x3 to figure out that they needed to get to the center of the maze and turn it off again. They looked at each other excitedly as they figured out the key cards would help them navigate the maze.

"Librarians…. We have a plan." Baird said, hope rising in them as the four realized they were working effectively with their combined resources, and it started to become real that maybe, they would be an awesome team.

Cassandra figured out the layout of the maze and Ezekiel watched her with a smile. She looked so happy when her brain worked correctly and helped her instead of hurting her.

The four separated, Eve quite unwilling. She realized that it was the most reasonable course of action but that didn't mean she had to like the idea of splitting up with two of her charges, but at least she could still keep an eye on Stone.

Ezekiel and Cassandra briefly looked at each other as they realized they were going to be going off together, just the two of them, on a mission. It was equally thrilling and uncomfortable, seeing as the last time they were alone together there had been unresolved emotions and conversations, something, which, Jones was not looking forward to opening back up again, **_ever_**. He did not wish to speak of his mother, or his past, or really anything about his personal life in general.

Baird and Stone ran off, distracting the Minotaur. Cass used her math mind to find them the next door, Jones laughed,

"Good for math." Cassandra smiled and stated,

"This way!" Grabbing his hand and running off, both of them trying to ignore the jolt between their hands.

They walked into something resembling the Escher Stairs and Cassandra started crying.

"I can't do it. No, I can't do it, seven dimensions is too much. It's too much, I can't do it." She clutched her head as she walked back away from it.

"Seven's nothing. Leaves you with what? Three fingers? I once stole a gun out of a cop's hand using three fingers." She ignored him, looking at the grimy wall with a dejected expression.

"Stone is right… You can't trust me, I'll let everyone down." She clasped her fingers together, wiggling them against each other, looking thoroughly depressed. He came and sat down next to her and said,

"If I was in your shoes… with that _thing_ growing in my head? I'd have sold everyone out for a cure too! The only difference is… I would have stuck the landing. Let Flynn die, let The Serpent Brotherhood win, let the world burn. But you didn't, yeah, you screwed people over, but you didn't **_let them down_**." She appeared pensive the whole time he was talking, but the second he finished looked overwhelmed again,

"I just can't hold it though, it's **_too much_**." He looked at her, and if she had looked back, she would have seen the softest, most loving look that had ever crossed Ezekiel Jones's face. Instead she heard the softest, sweetest voice he'd ever used with anyone, other than perhaps his mother.

"So close your eyes…. Focus on your other senses." She looked over to him with regret,

"My other senses and I don't get along so well. Brain grape…" He realized how close their faces were and had to smile at her use of words, knowing that was her way of forgiving him for saying it.

"So I'll be your other senses. Shut your eyes and see the map inside your head. I'll lead you through." This time she was looking at him when he talked, staring into his eyes in fact, and some sort of understanding passed between them. They both knew there was some sort of love between them, and both knew that, at least for the moment, neither could act upon it.

"You really trust me to do that?" She asked; her heart hurting from how much she loved him after what he just said. He laughed and she almost leaned over and kissed him when he did so. He stood up, still smiling and he looked at her,

"I'm the thief that bails on everybody, I'm pretty sure you're the one trusting me." He held out his hand for her and she placed hers in his, standing up. Neither even tried to ignore the feeling that occurred when their hands met and she squeezed his hand. It felt like a promise to him, hope, trust, anticipation, a whisper of the future.

She put her arm through his, still holding his hand, her eyes closed now.

"Ok, we need to go down through the labyrinth."

"Good." He whispered to her, and then said in a normal voice, "That's good."

Baird fought the Minotaur, Stone interrupting her losing battle by driving into the Minotaur with a truck. She got in and they drove away.

"You did it!" Ezekiel exclaimed as they burst through a door, Cassandra gasping for breath.

"We made it!" He walked forward but Cassandra pulled back, trying to say something but falling down instead.

"Woah… You okay?" She put a hand to her head as they both kneeled on the floor.

"Yeah…. Go. I just… need to count down from seven." He got up and ran towards the thread. She muttered things as he disabled the security system.

"Five minutes is all we need." As the words left his mouth he heard a gun click and a female's voice, that was not Cassandra, said from his side,

"You don't have it." Ezekiel and Cassandra looked between each other with wide eyes.

"Who are you?" Ms. Willis asked. Ezekiel, his hands still up, informed her,

"We're the librarians. We accept your surrender." He smirked as he said it and a cruel sneer covered the woman's face.

"There's only one librarian, and youuu… are not him. But, something has changed, there's more magic in the world. New power to our sacrifices." She went on and Ezekiel kept smirking and holding his hands up, Cass watching from the floor.

"You… are the first **_modern_** people to reach the center. No **_intern _**has ever managed that! Kids today, there's no initiative!"

Ezekiel talked to her and distracted her as Cassandra got up and snuck behind Willis. Just as the woman was about to shoot him Cassandra jumped onto her back and missed Ezekiel, shooting at a wall or ceiling.

Cassandra clung to her back and Willis shot several more times, each time missing and shattering a glass case. She hit the case containing the thread and Ezekiel went over and grabbed it.

Willis shook Cassandra off and aimed her gun at Ezekiel. Ezekiel tilted his head as if to say, 'what can you do?' before running off with the thread. The woman went after Ezekiel and Cassandra was left lying on the floor alone, feeling betrayed.

Ezekiel suddenly dropped down in front of the doorway he had just run through and smiled at her,

"Come on then!" She smiled, got up, and ran over to him. Willis reappeared, looking deranged as she re-aimed her gun on them,

"Give me that thread! If you drop it we're all doomed!" Both Ezekiel and Cassandra looked terrified as they stared at the mad woman. He looked at Cassandra and asked,

"Uh… any ideas?" She looked down at the floor in realization,

"Jenkins. He said that magic depends on symbols. What better symbol for a labyrinth than a straight line wrapped around and around and around itself?" She smiled and Jones looked down at the thread in his hands, making sense of her words, he nodded and smiled,

"Here, catch!" He tossed the thread at Willis while holding onto one piece of string, she screamed as the thread unwound itself and some amount of distance away, the Minotaur screamed too.

The Minotaur turned into a bright white light and disappeared. Baird, Stone, and Jenkins realized the weight battering down the door from the other side had ceased and they opened the door, staring out into a black abyss. Baird gasped out,

"Cassandra! Jones!" Before she leapt into the abyss. The thread came flying out of the dark and Stone caught it. A few seconds later, Jones, Cassandra, and Baird followed it back into the annex, and they shut the door behind them. All of them put their hand on their knees, gasping for breath.

"We made it!" Cassandra said, looking over at Ezekiel in shock.

"Yeah, you did. This time… You did." Baird breathed, smiling at them all.

They all sat at the table and Ezekiel and Cassandra recounted their tail, sort of, the feelings shared between their eyes and touches had been omitted from the story.

"You should have seen her! No hiding… took the fight right to the big bad!" He grinned, and Cassandra, who was sitting as close as she could be without the others getting suspicious, grinned too,

"And Ezekiel, I mean… He did kind of… save the day by bailing on me." He smiled at her,

"Told you, I don't do punchy." Jenkins came over and it was back to serious talk, but Cassandra, who was sitting on the edge of the table, right above Ezekiel's chair, pressed her leg against his, her foot rubbing right above his ankle. Causing him to shiver and make a nearly audible gasp. He looked up at her face, a question obvious on his face,

'_What are you doing? I thought you couldn't do a relationship type thing with everything going on with you?_' She shrugged and smiled down at him, getting up and walking between some bookshelves. A little while later she saw Stone walking over to look at a different bookshelf and she started to talk to him over the railings. She tried to communicate with him, but he told her he couldn't trust her, or anyone else. That hurt, but she understood it, due to what she did. But she did wonder what he meant by saying,

"I like you, Cassy." What type of like had he meant? Her heart belonged to Ezekiel; it had the entire time since she had joined this odd family, she could only hope Stone meant friendly like, because she did not want to hurt Stone more than she already had when she broke his trust.

Ezekiel had just mustered up the courage to go talk to Cassandra when he saw her and Stone talking, and heard Stone say that he liked her, and she had smiled at Stone as he said it. Oh god. Did that mean Ezekiel had been wrong? Did Cassandra truly care for him as he had thought or did she have feelings for Stone? He slowly backed up, forcing his eyes to dry. That was the good thing about his life, his past. He was always at such a low point he could force himself to stop feeling.

By the time he walked up to Baird a few feet away he already seemed as normal as normal could seem,

"Soo… end of day… not too bad for our first time out, was it?" Baird considered it and responded,

"You did okay… **_I_**… I could do better. I've spent my entire adult life in the military. Everybody fits into a box…. You don't. You're not assets to be protected; you're not soldiers I can order around… I don't know what you are…."

Stone interjected, "I think maybe the term you're looking for is… partners."

Baird smiled, "Fair enough."

Ezekiel asked, "Can you go back to the part where you said we were awesome?" He was privately thinking, '_I need to hear that right now_.'

"I said you did okay." Baird said, nodding her head a bit and smirking,

"Yeahhh… but I'm going to take that as 'we rule', mostly me, but you guys were…. okay."

"Okay? I did math…." Cassandra teased, pointing her hands towards herself, pretending to be offended, not realizing how much Ezekiel was hurting inside just talking to her.

"True... points for math. And a… you mostly just got beat up." He said, gesturing to Stone. Stone rolled his eyes, rubbed his face and walked away. Cassandra already had walked off in a different direction and Ezekiel was left standing in the middle of the room by himself, Baird having left a few minutes ago.

"I do rule." He said to the empty room before turning and walking away too.

Jones reentered his room, closed the door, and sunk down it. Burying his face into his knees as he sat down against the door, he sighed. Tears ran soundlessly down his face and in the privacy of his room he did nothing to stop them, tears were such a rare occurrence to him nowadays that they were welcome, most of the time he felt too empty to even attempt crying.

That night he took the biggest amount of pills he had taken since he'd become a librarian. It was more than he'd taken in a very long time though, not just since he'd become a librarian, even before then sitting around in his abandoned apartment he hadn't taken that many pills in a long time.

He started to walk to his bed but he got too dizzy and passed out a few feet away from his bed, lying on the ground, foam coming out of his mouth. Jones was oblivious to Stone knocking on his door and opening it to talk to him.

Stone looked down and saw Jones on the ground, he shouted for Jenkins. It was right around twelve am and everyone else was in bed. Stone had been waiting until the others were in bed to discuss a few things with Jones. Chiefly his flinch when Baird had grabbed his shoulders earlier that day, now instead of grilling the kid on his reaction to physical contact he was trying to save the kid's life. Just another average day in a librarian's crazy life.

"C'mon kid! Ya gotta stop passing out all the time! What's wrong with ya? Breathe! C'mon kid!"

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**Yeah... I know... Blech... I suck at writing... Anyway, welcome to review if ya want, don't if ya don't want... Just so long as you enjoyed it I'm fine with whatever.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Haha, FanaticomaticSuperTokienLover, sorry about the end of the last chapter. ;-) But it's just not Ezekiel's style to listen to anyone, at least not yet... There will be something about that later on. I have big, bad plans that are gonna be shocking and probably make all of you awesome readers very upset.  
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**Thanks to all readers and to all reviewers, I'm trying to keep updating but I'm writing very slowly lately. I'm hoping not to leave anyone hanging, so I'm doing my best to keep forging on. **

**Thanks to alls ya'lls! (I love saying that. It just gives me great joy. Seriously, it's fun to say.)**

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Jenkins was tired of tending to this bumbling band of baboons, he was even less enthusiastic about it when it was twelve in the morning, and even less so when he discovered just how many pills had been ingested by the imbecile thief. Didn't Jones know how to read? He had taken nearly an entire bottle's worth!

"How is he, Jenkins?" Stone asked in a low tone; Eve was off to the side talking to Flynn on the phone in hushed tones, Jenkins had smartly sent the anxious Cassandra away to get something for him. Jenkins huffed angrily,

"He'll survive. The moronic boy overdosed on pain killers. He took the entire bottle. I don't know if it was a foolish suicide attempt or if he's so idiotic he thinks he's immortal and didn't read the label. I suppose I will have to question him on his choices. I have no idea if he would be inclined to attempt to kill himself, as he is overly enthusiastic usually. He may just have been foolish and taken too many, or his enthusiasm is a very strong mask…" Stone and Jenkins both glanced down at Ezekiel as Jenkins trailed off.

"I'll ask him about it when he wakes up. Don't worry about it, Jenkins." Jenkins nodded slowly, seeming to like that idea better,

"Yes, that sounds better; He's more likely to talk to you, I think. He does not trust me." Jenkins nodded once more and started to walk away,

"Jenkins," Stone called after him, "Can we keep the details between the two of us?" Jenkins paused, and then bowed his head slightly to show his agreement.

"Exercise caution, Mr. Stone. If he is so secretive that he can hide his emotions, there's no telling what else he may be hiding." Stone grunted in response, knowing Jenkins was right, and not liking it one bit.

Jenkins left, intercepting Cassandra on the way out, sending her on another unnecessary errand. Stone collapsed into a nearby chair, staring at Jones lying on the bed.

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**Thanks for reading guys!  
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	11. Chapter 11

**Heeeeyyyy guysss! So this is the first chapter FangirlandTheories and I have collaborated on together. So in other words, this was co-written and you can all thank FangirlandTheories for these awesome descriptions and the lack of grammatical errors, along with other things. ;)  
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Jake had fallen asleep in the chair and was snoring softly, when he woke himself up. He wiped the grogginess from his eyes and glanced at the clock. It was about six am. He had been in the room for about eight hours without any change. He yawned and stretched his tight muscles when suddenly, Jones shot up in bed gasping for breath. Stone nearly fell out of his chair, startled by Jones's unexpected actions.

Ezekiel suddenly gripped his throat, gasping out, "What the hell!?" Stone scrambled over to the bed, steadying Ezekiel.

"Woah, easy kid," He said, "Calm down. You overdosed on pain pills. I found you passed out on the floor of your room." Ezekiel stared at him unsteadily for a moment; seeming to have trouble focusing on Stone.

"W-What? What're you talking about, Stone?" Stone came up with an idea and quickly put it to the test.

"Pain pills, Ezekiel! You overdosed! You took a whole bottle. Cassandra is going out of her mind!" Ezekiel turned pale and Stone watched with satisfaction. He knew playing the Cassandra card would work. He had seen how his younger comrades looked at each other and that because Cassandra was the youngest in the group, not even Ezekiel wanted to hurt her in any way.

What he didn't expect, however, was the hurt and deep sadness that settled on Ezekiel's countenance, "Yeah? Why would she be worried? I was the one who accidentally overdosed, not you." Stone looked at Ezekiel in confusion. It had been a very long night and Jake felt like everything was confusing him.

"Me?" Jake said incredulously. "What are you talking about? You're the one Cassie can't keep her eyes off of. And are you sure it was an accident, Jones? You're smart when you apply yourself, that's why I find it hard to believe that you could've accidentally taken an entire bottle of medication." Ezekiel's eyes flew up to meet Stone's sharply, alarm evident on his scared, pale face.

"Of course it was an accident… I didn't try to kill myself, Stone."

"Sure, but let's suppose you did…" Stone started, but was cut off.

"I didn't!" Ezekiel exclaimed, his already raspy voice rising in aggravation. Stone rolled his eyes and continued.

"But say you did... why would you have done that?" Stone asked staring at Ezekiel in suspicion.

"No idea why I would've, because I didn't." Stone grunted in disagreement, "I didn't!" Ezekiel glared at him.

"Okay, kid… if you say so. I'm keeping an eye on you though." Ezekiel scoffed then watched in disbelief as Stone settled back into the chair, staring down Ezekiel the whole time he shifted to a comfortable spot.

"Wait, you're serious? You really think I tried to kill myself, Stone? Now is this something you ask everyone who has a near death experience or have you just been hit upside the head one too many times, eh mate?" Ezekiel asked him, his Australian accent coming through more strongly than usual as he felt a panic arise in him at Stone's questions. Jake didn't blink, staring Jones down unwaveringly, making Ezekiel eye him uncertainly.

"Because I didn't y'know… I really didn't try to **_kill_** myself at all, so quit it with the creepy eyes, Mr. Starey." Ezekiel stated unaware of his emphasis. Suddenly Stone got a triumphant look and Jones felt dread pool in him as he realized his mistake.

"If you weren't trying to kill yourself, what exactly **_were_** you trying to do?" Stone asked Jones gruffly, leaving no room for argument.

"Ugh! Can't you just leave it, Jake!? I'm tired and my whole body hurts! I don't feel like dealing with all of this, okay!?" Ezekiel exclaimed frantically, throwing his arms dramatically in exasperation. Stone's glare softened and he looked at Jones victoriously.

"You called me Jake; you must have something serious going on, Jones… You normally only ever call me Stone." Jake told Ezekiel resolutely.

"The way your brain works amuses me Jake. I have always have serious issues going on, it's nothing different from the ordinary." Jones snorted, running a tired hand through his shaggy hair. Upon reflection Jones was unable to find the answer as to why he would tell Stone that, especially when Stone was suspecting a truth he had hidden for so many years, something he'd hidden most of his life, even when his mother was still alive.

"At least you admitting that there's something wrong with you. That's a start at least..." Stone told him while watching the boy play with the thick blanket that laid over top of him. More than anything, Jake wanted to know what he was hiding, but he also knew that if he pushed Ezekiel too far that he might run and if it came to it again, he might attempt to do whatever it was he attempted to do with the pills before, except that time, it would kill him.

"Yeah… There is something wrong with me… I had a headache and I took medicine for it, and I took too much. End. Of. Story." Ezekiel stated quickly and angrily, more and more visible fear showing through. Stone chuckled sarcastically, though not cruelly.

"Yeah, a whole bottle too much. You must have really misread the bottle. Oh, by the way, I had a question I wanted to ask you…" Stone abruptly jumped out of his chair and slapped his hand down hardly onto Ezekiel's shoulder. The young man's body quickly shied away as Ezekiel sent a surprisingly visible terrified look. He usually wasn't so open or clear with his emotions.

"What's with your aversion to physical contact, kid?" The question was shot to the quivering man. Ezekiel tried to school his features but couldn't make his eyes less wide as the shock and fear would not leave him. He dared not look the burly Oklahoman man in the eye.

"What? Shut up! When did Jenkins say I could get outta this bed, Stone?" Ezekiel's fractured mind tried to cover his terror but his words sounded nothing like his usual cocky, confident, sassy speech.

"Zeke! You're awake?!" Cassandra's voice suddenly bounced through the room and she flew to his bedside. Stone backed down, though he still analyzed every movement, every flinch that Ezekiel showed.

Despite his best efforts not to, Ezekiel's body shook as Cassandra's arms wrapped around him. The memories of his father's hands, feet, and the belt impacting his skin made him stiffen as Cassandra hugged him and he hoped she wouldn't notice, though he doubted the same hope could be fulfilled regarding Stone.

"Hey Cass, sorry I upset you… again." Ezekiel told her quietly, still unsure of whether he believed what Stone said about Cassandra caring for him and not Stone.

"Ezekiel Jones, stop doing this to me! My brain grape is gonna explode if you don't quit it!" Cassandra exclaims in joking, but relieved exasperation as Ezekiel stares at her in shock that she actually said that.

"That's not funny…" He told her, not even trying to cover the emotion in his voice. He couldn't help the image in his mind of his mother lying on the cold marble floor, her eyes glassy, though her expression showed pain, fear, and shock, an echo of her last moments, her last breath that Ezekiel hadn't been there for.

"It's not funny that someday you're just suddenly gonna stop, that you're gonna fall to the hard floor after the most incredible pain you've ever felt goes through your body and that your son isn't gonna be there to comfort you, that he missed your last moment by seconds, that you have to die at all! It's not funny!" He shouted, his eyes wild and full of unshed tears from the pain of the memories that splayed across his face. Cassandra backed up in shock and hurt of him talking about her death so candidly, so callously.

Stone reached out to calm Ezekiel but Ezekiel's eyes just flew shut as he stilled and quieted as though expecting Stone to hurt him. Stone suddenly understood. He retracted his hand slowly and carefully, eyes on the trembling, terrified display of the young man that sat in front of him. Jake didn't know how it even happened, one minute the thief was snarky and full of energy, but the next he seemed so broken and lifeless. It was so uncharacteristic of the young man.

A tear ran down Cassandra's cheek but she seemed to realize that Ezekiel's words were coming from a different place in his mind and weren't directed at her; after all, she had no son. She once again thought of how she knew very little about Ezekiel's past and came to the conclusion that she had to learn more about it, cause he seemed to be holding back some information regarding brain grapes.

"I agree, Zeke. It's not funny; ten years have taught me that. Not that I ever thought cancer was funny before that anyway, but you know what I mean…" Cassandra whispered carefully, barely loud enough for Jones and Stone to here.

"I'm sorry Cass; I cannot believe I said that… I'm so sorry… I…. My head wasn't in the right place." Ezekiel told her softly, voice full of sorrow. He was still shying away from Stone's attempts to grasp his shoulder even though he didn't seem to want to hurt him.

"I know, but don't worry about it. Ezekiel, for whatever happened in your mysterious and obviously difficult past, I'm sorry." Cass told him honestly and he froze, looking up at her through horrified eyes.

"W-what? What're you talking about, Cass? I didn't have a mysterious or difficult past…You already know my story, all of you do. I steal, people try to catch me, I came to the Library to help you guys out, and that's it." He lied.

"Do you want me to tell Cassandra, kid? Or are you actually gonna start tellin' the truth?" Ezekiel's focus whipped to Stone as Stone spoke threateningly. Ezekiel shot him a venomous glare as Cassandra leapt onto Stone's words.

"What are you talking about, Jake? Tell me what!? What's going on!?" Cassandra asked Stone frantically, grabbing his arm and squeezing her fingers into the muscles. She would give anything to make him feel better, but she needed to know every bit of information in order to try to help him.

"I'll tell you later, Cassandra, because he's obviously too much of coward to tell you himself. Let's let him get some rest though, he's been through a lot today. Besides, Baird will want a report too." Jake pushed the protesting Cassandra out the door and shot a glance back at the angry and worried Ezekiel.

"You wouldn't…" Ezekiel pleaded with him, and Jake raised an eyebrow.

"Wouldn't what? What's there to know to tell them?" Stone told him and Ezekiel realized that Stone was indirectly telling him he had a little while longer before he divulged whatever it was that he had found out.

Ezekiel laid back in his bed and sighed. He couldn't understand how he was letting his mask fall so easily after having perfected it so well over the last twenty four years. He had never let it fall before and suddenly when the other crazy librarians, their guardian, and Jenkins entered his life, his secrets were unclassified by his unwilling self. With these troubling thoughts on his mind Ezekiel fell into a feverish, nightmare filled sleep only to wake up again later when Stone entered the room once again.

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**Hope you enjoyed this chapter and hope everyone else is as excited about FangirlandTheories joining me in writing as I am! Thanks all for reading, and thanks, FangirlandTheories for writing! See you all next chapter! **


	12. Chapter 12

**Heeeyyy, second chapter by both of us, sorry it took so long, I took forever changing the format of the story and then finding enough time to post it. FGaT is not at all to blame for my slowness. **

**Haha, ezekielpast: I felt the same way, that's why I started one. He's so underrated. He's the least paid attention to of the characters, except MAYBE Jenkins, and there are few fanfictions written about him, lesser so of him and Cassandra as a pairing. The writers use him as a comic relief and forget that he is an interesting and complex character. I say we change that. Rally up all of us and somehow get the writers to listen to the message: WE WANT MORE EZEKIEL. ;)  
**

**crazycupcakejee: Thanks, we like ourselves too! ;) :D :P **

**FGaT: Looking forward to our next chapter. :D**

**Frejr: Agreed, Ezekiel isn't as great at bouncing back as he likes to pretend, is he? And his selfpreservation is terrible. (At least in this fic!)**

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Jake Stone wasn't an idiot, not by any means; he was in fact, a genius with an IQ of 190, but it sure as hell didn't take a genius to figure out some of what was going on with that messed up kid.

The flinches every time someone touched him without warning clearly indicated some sort of trust issues and a past of fear, and the amount of terror made Stone think it had probably been long term. His first thought was abuse and it made his chest hurt to even think of someone hurting Ezekiel, his younger brother of sorts.

Not to mention the way that Jones reacted to Jake's accusations of attempting suicide that had made it seem that either Jake was right, or he wasn't too far off. He couldn't get the way the kid had said, 'I didn't try to **_kill_** myself.' out of his head. What had Jones tried to do then?

Suddenly an idea formed in Stone's mind and he decided to get to the bottom of it. Quickly he excused himself from the still worrying presence of Cassandra. He grabbed a glass of water and pack of chips and took them to Jones's room, dropping a sleeping pill in the water and letting it dissolve before he entered.

"Hey kid, thought maybe you'd be hungry after everything. Want something to eat?" Stone asked Jones casually but Jones shook his head and pushed his body further into his blankets without looking at Stone. This could be slightly more difficult than anticipated. Jake tried a different approach.

"Ok, well at least drink something, Jones, you've gotta be dehydrated after so many hours of being unconscious." He tried and Jones's hand slowly came out of the blankets and reached blindly for the glass. Stone realized that Jones was scared of him, at least for now, though he was sure that he never admit it. Jake never wanted to make the younger man scared of him but if it was a price to pay to get him in a better place, Jake was willing to pay it.

When Ezekiel had finished chugging the water, he held the now empty glass out to Jake, before slowly uncovering his head sheepishly. Jake reached for the glass to take out of Jones's hands and he waited as the pills started to take effect.

"Jake…? You weren't really gonna tell the others about my dad were you? Or m' mom? You weren't gon' hit me, were you…?" Jones asked quietly in a faraway voice, not seeming to realize his own words as he spoke them. Jake's heart wrenched. So abuse was a key factor. It was pretty obvious that it was one of his parents that had done so, but he couldn't figure out which.

"What?!" Stone questioned, slightly louder than he had hoped because he watched the boy flinch in front of him. He toned himself down. "Ezekiel… I would never… We would never, ever hurt you in any way. Now remind me because I've forgotten… What exactly happened to your parents?" Jake figured he wouldn't get much of an answer from the boy whose eyes were now glassy. Jones yawned hardly before he began to answer.

"Well my Dad is pretty big in Australia but he's always been an asshole. As for Mom, she die-" He yawned again before he got this strange look on his face. He suddenly said in a horrified whisper,

"You- You drugged me didn't you? You promised you wouldn't hurt me, but you did-" Jones cut himself off as he drifted into a deep sleep.

"Sorry kid, but if there's anything we've learned today, it's that it's better that I drug you than you drug you, because I'm not the one giving you a lethal amount!" Stone resolutely told the unconscious boy though he felt slightly guilty about drugging him. He seemed very betrayed and Jake knew that in the long haul, Ezekiel probably wouldn't trust him for a very long time.

He searched between every object and space in Jones's room looking for anything to prove his theory. He tore apart the room, ripping drawers from the dresser, searching through every article of clothing, and opening every cabinet.

He was about to give up, when his hand felt the hard plastic. He grabbed the three bottles of painkillers that were hidden in a box beneath the armoire. Jake didn't know if any more were hidden in the boy's room but he did know he was looking at an addiction. He was then faced with the thought of whether or not he should tell the others about his revelation. Suddenly, Stone heard Baird's determined steps come closer to the room and he quickly left to get her away from the room before she could realize he had drugged Ezekiel and made a huge mess.

On his way out the door, he pocketed the pills. If Jones was addicted to painkillers, he would have to detox the hard way, Jake decided just as he ran into the blonde maternal figure.

"Don't go in there right now. He's out." Jake told her, smiling at her panicked expression.

"What do you mean he's out? He escaped?" Eve asked, her breath hitched.

"Calm down Mama Baird, by out I mean he's asleep. He was exhausted. He should be fine in a day or two though." Baird glared at him for calling her Mama Baird but it softened when she heard the good news. In a few days Jones would be back on his feet and everything would be normal again, right?

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**So yeah, hope you guys enjoyed our newest chapter! If you have any ideas, thoughts, comments, corrections, whatever, let us know!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hey guys, thanks for all of the reviews to our story! Big thanks to FGaT for co-writing! Without her this story wouldn't be awesome! Hope you all enjoy this chapter and look for the next chapter soon, which is going to be great! (Episode chapter) **

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"You promised you wouldn't hurt me, but you did-" Ezekiel cut himself off as he drifted into a deep sleep.

_Within a heavily sedated dream, he awoke in a very strange room. Everything was black and white. It took him a moment to realize that it wasn't just a room. It was the staircases from the Labyrinth. They moved and crossed, confusing the young thief more and more with each twist. His head pounded through his skull when suddenly, he heard it._

_Laughter. It was oddly loud and quiet at the same time. It echoed around in his mind. The laughter was cold and cruel, but also loving and soothing. It made no sense. He spun around, looking for the source of the impossible laughter._

_"Li..." Ezekiel felt like he couldn't focus on a single thing but he was sure his mind was playing tricks on him. The voice called him by his real name no one knew his real name. He had to change it after everything that had happened with his father. "Li…" The voice called again in its sing song tone. It sounded exactly like..._

_"Mum? Mum!?" He yelled into his surroundings. He grabbed his head and decided that he must be going crazy. His mother had been dead for almost twelve years. It couldn't have been her. _

_Everything was spinning around him at once. He felt dizzy and sick as he watched false memories pass by him. One showed him Cassandra in his mother's place. Another showed Jake and Baird taking turns beating him. _

_The only real one was The Thief. That was one memory he didn't care to even think about. He turned away from the painful memories and looked to the staircases. He tried running up one flight, only to fall sideways off of them on the other side. He jumped to grab a higher railing, but fell onto a lower flight. _

_"No, I remember getting out of this place, I remember it! Cassandra and I got out of here and escaped the Minotaur's place. This isn't real! It can't be!" He screamed to the Escher Stairs, glaring at their impossible presence. His voice rubbed raw from use and lack of sleep._

_"Li! What are you doing, darling? Come; stop playing on the stairs Li. Your father is calling for us. Hurry darling!" Ezekiel's breath quickened as his mother's gentle but scared voice bounced around in the impossible space. For the sake of his mother he tried once more to navigate his way through the stairs, not wanting to upset his father like he always had._

_"I can't do it Mum! I'm so sorry. I don't understand it. I need Cass to help me." He whimpered in pain as he fell onto another staircase. Suddenly he heard the sound of his mother screaming in pain. He could hear the strikes that his father was landing on her. He flinched with each loud snap. _

_"Where is he?" He heard the voice scream out. Suddenly the room changed. He was back in his childhood home. An estate really. He was hiding in his mother's closet. Just like when he was a child. _

_Her closet was a room of its own because his father wanted his wife to be in proper apparel when she appeared before the public. She was always sporting a lovely dress with bruises and coverup makeup as her accessories. _

_He was hiding behind her more formal gowns when he heard his mother fall. He knew it wouldn't be long before his father found him. The closet doors opened with a crash as his father ripped them off the hinges. Ezekiel felt his heart drop as he held his breath, hoping for a miracle. He could hear his father ripping through the clothing. He heard the footsteps approach the gowns. The dresses were moving when his face was illuminated by the closet light. His father was just a silhouette that raised his hand. Ezekiel cried out just as he felt it hit his cheek… lightly?_

"Jones? C'mon Jones. It's alright. Snap out of it. It's just a nightmare." Jake tapped the boy's cheek lightly. Suddenly Jones swung his arm out of the bed, punching Stone directly in the face.

"Shit! Jones!" Stone rubbed his cheek. "I guess I sorta earned that after drugging you. At least you're weak, but it still hurt."

"Sorry." Jones croaked to him. His hands were shaking badly. "You could have mentioned that hallucinating was a side effect of those sleeping pills."

"It's not. It's a side effect of keeping secrets and taking an entire bottle of these." Jake held up one of the orange bottles. He smirked as Ezekiel's already pale face, paled more. "Oops. Looks like I found one of your secrets." Ezekiel looked around at his destroyed room. He suddenly turned to him with a wistful smile.

"Was it really that difficult for you to find them? After under the bed, under the armoire is always the first place you look." Jones rasped.

"Really? You want to talk about my searching skills? Let's have a chat about your obvious addiction to painkillers!" Jake shouted at him, not caring anymore at how hard Jones flinched and curled in on himself.

"Let's not." Ezekiel told him bitterly.

"This is so like you. Everyone else going out of their minds with worry about you and you being so selfish as to take a full bottle of these just because you got a little jealous. I thought that maybe, just maybe, after how long we worked together that you might be growing up, but no. You're still just a child. You don't deserve any of this. Magic, adventure, Cassandra." Jake spat at him.

"Happiness. I guess what you're trying to tell me is that I don't deserve happiness." Ezekiel stood his ground.

"Jones that's not what I-" Jake started.

"No. You had your chance to speak. It's your turn to sit down, shut up, and listen. God knows I've spent my whole life listening. It's because of people like you. Me taking the full bottle I mean. I told you that I hadn't tried to kill myself. That was true. I was trying to silence people like you. All the pressure you all put on me, and for what? I'll never be good enough in your eyes. You tell me to grow up? I've been grown up since I was twelve! Since my mom died! There. You drugged me just to figure that out. I never had the chance to be a child. My father beat me and my mother every day since the day I was born. Sorry I couldn't have been as privileged as you, Mr. Perfect." Ezekiel was shouting by the end of his spiel. His voice was cracking and croaking with overuse, but he didn't care. He had spilled half of his secrets to Jake, who was now watching him with wide, careful eyes. "Forgive me for wanting a way out." With that, Ezekiel turned and left the room, leaving a bewildered Jake alone.

He walked past an arguing Baird and Jenkins who watched him with curiosity as he passed. Then he turned and walked by Cassandra.

When she called his name, he slowed slightly, but continued walking to the reading room where he slammed the door shut and broke down into tears of relief. Half of the weight of his secrets was off his shoulders. The other half still weighed heavy, as he thought back to the children's book that he had been sent.

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**Hope you all enjoyed it, thanks again for reading and reviewing if you did so. Hey, FandomJumper0; we are still working on chapters! ;) **


	14. Chapter 14

**Merry Christmas and Happy New Year ya'll. Hope everyone has a great holiday. Next time I talk to all of you will probably be in 2016, so that'll be pretty cool... Thanks for all the reviews and thanks as always FGaT for cowriting and probably pulling more of the weight than is your job. Sorry I never have too much to write. Hope everyone enjoys this chapter!**

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When he was young Ezekiel often wondered what an actual Christmas would feel like, as the most of a Christmas he'd ever had was for show in front of others for good publicity. His father didn't allow his mother and himself indulge in such joys as Christmas, or any joys for that matter.

In his youth, he quickly grew to despise Christmas. Ezekiel was always hearing the other children in school chattering about it merrily about expected presents while knowing when he returned home it would be a holiday from hell. He had learned not to expect anything from anyone because it only led to disappointment. It was still that way for him now, even as an adult.

The past two weeks had been very stressful and uncomfortable for Ezekiel, who was avoiding Stone whilst in a silent, unspoken battle with him. Jones wasn't able to go without his painkillers and quickly assured that he replaced the pills Stone had taken from him. Most nights though, when he returned to his room to take them, he would find them missing, despite his increasingly difficult hiding places. If Jake wanted him to feel awful, he was doing a great job.

Increasingly more often, a thought pushed at the back of his mind: What if he needed to replace the pills with something else? Something stronger? Would he be able to keep it from Stone? And keep Stone from telling the others? He ignored the thought pushed through his splitting headache to focus on preparing for their most recent mission.

He was currently helping Cassandra decorate the Annex. By helping her decorate, he was actually just holding the boxes of decorations, but she seemed happy so that was enough for him. He turned away for a moment but when he turned back, he saw Jake wink at Cassandra as she smiled at him in excitement. Ezekiel felt a fire rise inside of him as he thought of them in a relationship. Ezekiel's increasingly dark and gloomy thoughts were pushed away as Baird stormed in complaining of Christmas cheer and messy desks.

"Oh no, really?! We have to do this here? Why are you all so into...this anyway?" She asked with a wave of the hand around the decorated Annex.

"By this do you mean, the most joyous holiday of the year?" Cassandra asked.

"It's good family fun. Nieces and nephews ripping through presents, Grandparents singing. I get to see my cousins once a year. Go out, play some pool, maybe get into a bar brawl or two on Christmas Eve." He smirked while he continued to wrap presents.

"A Christmas Eve bar brawl?" Cassandra asked curiously.

"Yeah. Oh I miss it." He smiled as he reminisced about the past.

"My parents felt that it would stunt the development of my intellectual rigor to expose me to supernatural fallacies during during my formative years." Colonel Baird chuckled lightly. "They told me Santa wasn't real at a very young age." Jake looked up at Cassandra questioningly. When she held up a three on her fingers, his eyes seemingly popped out of his head in disbelief. "I just wish that I had at least a little while to believe."

"Jones, don't tell me you're buying into all this?" Sourly asking Ezekiel, Baird looked at him questioningly.

"I actually love Christmas. All of those valuables lying around. _Clearly marked by wrapping paper and bows_…" Jones retorted dreamily as he picked up one of Jake's perfectly wrapped presents. He might hate the actual **_Christmas_** part of Christmas but the thieving opportunities were helpful. Since he had been stabbed by the thief he was much weaker, though still a very good thief, therefore the valuable things sitting around was much easier on his body.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Stone glance at him in disbelief as he smacked a gift out of Jones' hands. Apparently since he had figured out one of Ezekiel's weaknesses he thought he was secretly 'sensitive' or something? Jones almost laughed. He'd like to see Stone go through what he had in life and try to give a damn. No, the world could use some payback for the way it had treated Li J- Ezekiel Jones. Then again, if **_he_** were the world, he probably would have treated himself the same way.

"Oh come on, that's all just an act. I know there's good inside of you." Cassandra told him with a slight smile.

"Yeah, there are days where I…" He put down a present as Stone spun his scissors threateningly at him, "_Wish_ I could see what it's like to be the good guy…" Trailing off Ezekiel thought it odd of himself to have told the others that, but dismisses it as a disgruntled Jenkins enters and makes for a distressed visage. They listen in concern as he rants about Christmas being canceled to the three confused librarians and the one excited Baird.

"…Because Santa Claus has disappeared, follow me." Finishing his sentence in one breath, Jenkins hastens to a different room.

"**_What_**!?" Cassandra exclaims joyously in a very high pitched voice, and the three scurried after Jenkins. Baird trailing behind unenthusiastically.

As always, Jenkins debriefed them as Cassandra was nearly crying with her excitement at finding out that Santa was in fact real, and Baird avidly protested to the credibility of his name. Ezekiel thought it was cute how excited she had been. Every kid deserved the magic of Santa, even if it was only for a very short time like his.

Cassandra and Stone went off to the 'scene of the crime' and Ezekiel did his best not to let his temper on that get the best of him and take it out on the innocent Colonel Baird and Jenkins.

Quickly hacking into security cams of the soup kitchen, Jones discreetly checked Baird's and Jenkins' reactions to see if they were shocked by his actions. Their faces were impassive so he decided he had not just revealed an important hidden talent. He searched the tapes for a while, trying to find anything odd.

"What exactly are you looking for, Jones?" Baird demanded of him, not enjoying not knowing something.

"Hmm? Oh, I'm looking for any discrepancies, anything outta place and all, y'know? Something like someone dragging a big man with a white beard out the door…" Jones responded absently, his seemingly practiced eyes glued to the screen. The last part was muttered under his breath, but both of the other occupants of the room heard it anyway.

"It is highly unlikely that Santa Claus is actually a large man with a long white beard. No, more likely than not, he is just a normal looking man, with the _spirit_ of the Santa Claus that the world has grown to know and love." Jenkins explained in his normal logical frenzied speech.

"Still not calling him Santa." Baird interjected exasperatedly. Jones snorted in amusement at her comments. He still didn't look away from the screen though, skipping forward in the videos a bit. Cassandra and Stone stormed through the doorway and came closer to them.

"Santa's not missing, he was grabbed." Stone told them gravelly. Typing more things into his keyboard, Ezekiel frowned as he came up with nothing yet again.

"Local surveillance cameras use wifi, so I popped up the hard drives… There's no sign of him." Jones told them quickly, still banging commands into his keyboard.

"People that grabbed him. Tattoos. Joe Blakes. Snakes." Grim expressions set on all of their faces at Stone's words.

"Serpent Brotherhood." The word was uttered by Colonel Baird to a stunned room. Ezekiel found another file he hadn't checked yet and pulled it up. There were two people on it; he chose to study the man on the right, committing his features to memory and looking for anything suspicious or telling about him.

"It's him…" Cassandra stated in a hushed tone.

"Him who?" Ezekiel asked. His focus still on the dark haired man to the right.

"From the Serpent Brotherhood… You all met Lamia, but I'm the only one who meet him… He's the boss. Um… Dulaque." She informs the others breathlessly. Glass shattering covered Ezekiel's horrified gasp. His attention shifted to the other man on the screen, a hat pulled low on his face, but sure enough… It was him. It was Dulaque. _The thief_.

"Dulaque! Of course that's what he's calling himself.. Of course." Jenkins exclaimed. He ignored whatever he had shattered and stomped over to the computer, wrenching the screen towards himself.

"Uh, quick question Jenkins… What the hell are you talking about?" Baird demanded of him. Jenkins' face took on a grave appearance as he thought of how to explain it. Ezekiel tried to hide his tremoring from the other librarians and hoped that if Stone noticed it he'd just think he was dealing with withdrawal.

"If Dulaque and the Serpent Brotherhood have Santa at least we know what happens next. Dulaque kills him. He _kills_ Santa Claus!" Jenkins told them in disbelief.

"If they're going to kill him, they don't have to move him. They're still in London." Eve told them.

"Do you remember where Dulaque's office was the first time you were there?" Jake asked Cassandra brusquely.

"I didn't see his address. I was in the car. I was blindfolded." She told him, ignoring the accusatory tone coming from the man due to her past betrayal.

"Well that's a start. Better than a start. One thing every thief knows, London is the most heavily surveilled city in the world. Average person gets caught on camera at least 300 times a day." Ezekiel informed the group as he continued typing.

"But I think they'd be pretty careful not to catch Santa on camera." She told him as though it was obvious.

"Yeah, but what about you? On your first trip." He pulled out his phone and snapped a picture of her face. "Were they that careful with you?" He smirked as he input the image into the security camera scanner. As it analyzed her face, Colonel Baird reached out and touched his shoulder gently. Jake noticed the man stiffen and smiled slightly.

"It's good having a thief." Baird told him warmly.

"Yeah, but there is still half a million cameras in London. We're going to have to narrow it down." Jake said doubtfully. Ezekiel rolled his eyes, naturally, Jake couldn't let him have his one moment in the spotlight.

"You've got a photographic memory. What did you get from your first visit?" Baird asked Cassandra.

"But I didn't see anything!" Cassandra retorted.

"Skip sight. Other senses." Baird told her whilst shrugging. Cassandra looked up at imaginary numbers and pictures.

"Okay…" She began. "We landed at Heathrow. We took a helicopter into the city."

"Not too many helicopter landing spots in the city." Ezekiel mumbled as he started to set the location.

"Helicopter… whirly bird…. Renewables Principle." Cassandra grew more and more unfocused.

"Cassandra listen. Focus. You've got this. Don't see it, just listen." Jake instructed her. Ezekiel glared over at him, but no one noticed due to the excitement.

"Okay…" She breathed. "We were high up. Then we drove! For five and a half minutes. And there was a bridge in the middle!" She told them, realization sparking through her voice.

"North or South." Ezekiel asked.

"The car was warmer on the right hand side, in the morning, so we were going North!" Jake smirked at the synesthete.

"Got a radius! And nicely for us, most of them are police and city cameras and they do not wipe their hard drives. So we're going to the police service-" Ezekiel was cut off.

"Is that even legal?" Jake asked monotonously from behind him.

"Not even remotely." Ezekiel let out his breath angrily at the man, but the others didn't seem to notice, however, Jake did. As the computer came closer, the street highlighted and blinked red.

"Got a street, not a building." Baird shook her head.

"It was really, really old." Cassandra informed them.

"Then we got it." Jake told them. Ezekiel didn't like how he said 'we' when it was him and Cassandra who did all of the work. "That's the Chamberlain House right there on that street. It's classic victorian, it was designed by Bevins. Very historical building."

Colonel Baird walked behind him, "Thought you were art, not architecture." Ezekiel chuckled slightly as he and Cassandra followed behind their guardian.

"Architecture is just art that we live in. Why doesn't anybody get that?" Jake grumbled as he zipped up his jacket, before following them to the back door. They decided that Jake and Baird would try to distract Lamia and Dulaque while Cassandra and Jones found and rescued Santa.

"Okay so here's the only problem, there is only one way into the room where Santa is…" Ezekiel looked up at the entrance before he groaned.

"Ladies first." He offered Cassandra his hand before helping her jump into the chimney. He followed suit. It was a tight squeeze but eventually they both tumbled from the chute, their clothes covered in ashes and soot. In the center of the room sat a man wearing a gray suit and a large red hat. He was tied to the chair with a gag in his mouth. Cassandra removed the gag while Ezekiel untied the man.

"Down the chimney. Well done!" The man laughed to Cassandra.

"You're Santa Claus!" Cassandra responded joyously.

"Indeed, Cassandra Cillian." He smiled warmly.

"Santa knows my name!" She giggled.

"You don't look like the pictures." Ezekiel finished untying his hands.

"Santa doesn't look like any of the pictures, but the pictures look like Santa, Ezekiel Jones." He said as he stood. Ezekiel looked at Cassandra in amazement.

"Santa knows _my_ name." He told her, slightly confused.

"Oh you're in Santa's book." The man sort of intimidated Ezekiel, but he had no idea why. He almost felt as though he had to impress him.

"Same book as her?" Ezekiel nodded his head towards Cassandra. Santa looked at her for a moment before turning his gaze back to him, all while smiling in amusement.

"You've been a little naughty." Ezekiel looked down. Of course. No matter what, he would always be seen as the bad guy. The Santa that he dreamed about as a child would be the only person who truly understood him, and now Ezekiel discovered that even that was false. Just like everything else that he dreamed of as a child, it ended only in disappointment. Suddenly, they heard footsteps walking towards the room, so they ran out the door. Cassandra linked arms with Santa while Ezekiel walked ahead of them. They soon ran into Baird and Stone.

"It's Santa Claus… like the real one." Cassandra told the others giddily. Jake reached out to shake his hand, while Baird rolled her eyes.

"Jacob Stone, sir." Ezekiel snorted at his formality.

"Santa knows you. Both incarnations of you." Jacob's face fell slightly.

"Alright, get him to the nearest door Jenkins can open." Baird told them.

"No." Santa said suddenly. "Santa needs to be in the North Pole tonight. Santa needs his sleigh.

"Okay Santa, where'd you park your sleigh?" Baird groaned as she thought of all of the weird things she was saying now that she had taken this job.

"Santa hid it nearby. By the railroad tracks." Santa told her.

"And you're going to talk in the third person all day. Awesome." She said sarcastically before turning to team. "Alright, standard asset protection. They already believe you two have him," She pointed to Ezekiel and Cassandra. "Draw them off while I run the escort for transport." Jake and Cassandra took off, but Ezekiel remained where he was standing.

"How do we get their attention?" He asked. Baird grabbed the hat off of Santa's head and placed it on his own.

"Oh… This should be interesting." Santa chuckled but Ezekiel didn't notice. Baird nodded at him.

"You suck at being subtle. Work with that." She told him before pushing him towards the direction the other two walked in. Ezekiel had to laugh to himself. If he sucked at being subtle, she would have known that he had a troublesome past. Apparently he was better at being subtle than Colonel Baird had known. Suddenly, he felt an odd feeling from his head. It was warm and it sent a chill down his spine. He didn't think much of it as he loaded the car. Just as they drove away, he saw Lamia scramble out the door from the corner of his eye. She said something into a walkie-talkie before going back inside. They drove for a bit before they got out of the car and began walking.

They passed an older, homeless man who was asking for money. They had all walked by him when Ezekiel felt himself stop. Against his own will, he turned and walked back the man. The others watched in confusion as he pulled out his wallet and flung his money at the man. He smiled unconsciously as he felt Jake grab his wrist. Jake noticed that he didn't flinch or stiffen. Magic.

"What-what are you doing?" He asked. Ezekiel shook his head in an effort to clear his mind.

"Uh… I don't know." He followed back to where Cassandra was standing. She waved her arm behind them impatiently. He felt a slight twinge from his forehead. He would've taken the hat off, if they still weren't trying to lose Lamia. They walked around the block before running into a group of children who were skipping around a flight of steps while caroling. Before he even knew what was happening, Ezekiel had joined them. Jake watched with an obviously confused expression while Cassandra stood with a joyful smile on her face. As he round the corner, Ezekiel grabbed onto Jake's shoulder.

"Please. Kill me." He said, he could feel the tight smile that forced its way onto his face. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't frown.

He started skipping again as his legs worked against him and the words of the song flowed from his mouth like vomit. He hated being forced into things against his own will. That was literally his childhood in a nutshell. Cassandra worked her way between him and the children and managed to keep him moving on with the mission. She couldn't help but laugh as they walked. He couldn't stop being joyous, it was almost adorable. Jake didn't think it was quite as cute. He was actually a bit concerned. Magic was working its way over Ezekiel's mind was dangerous. Especially when his mind was in as fragile as a state as it had been in for the past few weeks. When they finally arrived at the Annex he burst through the door with a cheerful smile on his face.

"Colonel Baird got Santa out of London, but there's no way to get him to the North Pole in time." Jenkins huffed at them.

"How about we all just hold hands, bow our heads, and be grateful that we're all here safe, together." Ezekiel smiled as he grabbed Cassandra's hand. Jake pointed at him as if to ask what they should do about him. Jenkins just smiled in amusement. Ezekiel suddenly felt nauseous, the twinge in his head had turned into a full throbbing headache. "I don't feel so well." He dropped Cassandra's hand and walked away from the group. Suddenly, he felt himself smile again, rather than going to his bedroom to lie down, he felt his feet leading him to the kitchen. He suddenly felt the urge to make some cookies and hot chocolate.

"It's the hat… Christmas magic. You might want to tell him to take it off." Jenkins told Jake and Cassandra as they watched him march away in determination.

"Nah." Jake smirked. Now that he found out that the magic was harmless, he was okay with letting Ezekiel suffer a little.

"Wait does it have to be the North Pole?" Cassandra asked suddenly. "I mean, this is about ley lines, right? Santa releases the power at midnight, that power travels through the world using the ley lines."

"Yeah… and the northern ones are the most powerful, hence the legend of Santa, the North Pole, pole, polarity-" Jenkins informed her. Jake interrupted by trying to activate the globe by throwing it in the air and yelling 'FLYNN!'

"Okay." Cassandra chose to ignore him. "Um… I have an idea. But I'm gonna need satellite maps, a farmer's almanac," Cassandra breathed in deeply. "Plasma Quantum Dynamics charts…" She breathed in again, growing confused. "Also some of that… I'm sorry, do you smell hot chocolate?"

Jenkins smelled the air himself before noticing the man entering the room. Ezekiel was carrying a tray full of mugs of hot chocolate. He was wearing a very festive apron with white polka dots on the red background and a large holly berry on the front. As he placed it in front of the group who was trying to hold back their laughter, he smiled.

"Don't forget the cinnamon sticks." They heard a ding from the kitchen. "Ooh! Oven's ready for the cookies." He said excitedly, voice cracking with youth. Jake laughed to himself.

"Where do you reckon he got the apron?" He asked Jenkins who made a face that shouted _'Huh? That apron? I have no idea. What's an apron_?' Ezekiel went back into the kitchen, put a tray of cookies in the oven, then slumped down at the table. Jake came into the kitchen and chuckled at the pitiful site.

"Haha. It's hilarious. My head's splitting." Ezekiel groaned.

"Doesn't that suck? If only you could be trusted with some advil. Luckily for you, I'm going to help you out. Here. Try not to take them all at once." Jake handed him a bottle of aspirin for babies.

"You're an ass, you know that?" Ezekiel put his head against the cool table.

"Yeah, but you're healthy. I'm doing my job properly." Jake patted his shoulder roughly, frowning at the flinch from the young man. "So… you know what my biggest Christmas wish is? For you to talk to me. Tell me what is going on."

"I don't know what you want me to tell you. You've figured out how I feel about Cassandra, you know a lot about my parents, although my dad-" Ezekiel was cut off by Jenkins.

"Mr. Stone, Winky the house elf, we've got Colonel Baird on the phone discussing the plan with Ms. Cillian so you might want to go listen." Ezekiel seemed all too happy to be out of the situation. Jake glared at Jenkins before continuing to walk away.

"I don't think we need to go all the way to the North Pole. I think we can tap in using the Northern Lights as a plasma conductor into the ley lines." Cassandra shouted into the line, knowing how difficult it was to hear using one of Jenkins' old phones.

"Why can't I stop stuffing?" Ezekiel asked in a clearly distraught voice. Jake couldn't help but smile at how terrified the kid seemed of Christmas spirit.

"We need the strongest possible aurora borealis," Jenkins ignored the cheerful thief. "Which happens…?"

"There." Cassandra pointed to a spot on the computer that zoomed in on a specific spot. "Somewhere over Alaska."

"How exactly am I supposed to get to Alaska." Baird could be heard from the phone receiver.

"No no no. It's alright. There is a commercial shipping airport near you." Jenkins told her.

"What part of 'out of gas' are we unclear on?" Baird asked.

"Colonel Baird, I will send Cassandra and Ezekiel ahead to arrange a plane to transport you to the site of the aurora borealis, and Mr. Stone will you…" Jenkins tapped the screen once again. "Here. Very small town, near you. He'll get a car and he will transport you to the airport. Good luck." He hung up. Cassandra grabbed Ezekiel's hand and together they made their way to the back door. Ezekiel tried to ignore the fluttering in his stomach from the touch of Cassandra. The door opened to a snowy town in Alaska. Ezekiel drew his light jacket closer to his body.

"You're not really used to the cold, are you?" Cassandra laughed as she watched him blow warm air into his hands.

"We don't have a traditional winter in Australia. The weather is pretty much equivalent to your fall temperatures. I don't do snow." He smiled back at her. They found the airport and walked through the door. Unfortunately, Ezekiel could feel his mouth stretching into a fake, joker-like smile once again.

"Hi! Um… is that the plane being held for Colonel Baird?" Cassandra asked the man who stood waiting at the desk.

"Yeah it is. I'm your pilot." He said glumly. "Midnight flight on Christmas Eve, eh? Trying to see the sleigh? People do that sometimes." When Ezekiel saw the man's face he felt his own body bouncing in anticipation.

"Something wrong there mate? You don't seem to have the traditional holiday spirit." He heard Cassandra sigh from beside him.

"I promised my fiancee that we'd spend the evening together… then I got called on this flight." The man said sadly.

"Oh! Well we won't be long, so you'll have plenty of time to celebrate afterwards." Cassandra smiled, knowing what was going through Ezekiel's mind and praying that he would keep his mouth shut.

"Yeah, you're right. And I need the cash for the wedding." The man put on a fake smile and Cassandra shrugged in agreement. Then the only thing she didn't want to have happen, happened.

"But you'd really love to be with her right now, eh? I mean that'd be your Christmas wish?" Ezekiel asked with a large smile.  
"More than anything." The man answered, full of passion. Ezekiel laughed to himself.

"No…" Cassandra rolled her eyes. "Yes." "No." "Yes." "No." He was arguing with himself.

"Ezekiel… Ezekiel no." Cassandra told him firmly, knowing the stakes.

"Go be with the one you love." He shook his head. "Don't listen to me." His face lit up again with false cheer. "Yes! We're okay without you." He said with a shaky voice. Cassandra smirked in amusement next to him, knowing that there was nothing she could do now.

"Are you sure?" The pilot asked.

"Absolutely." He furiously pulled out his wallet and handed the pilot a fat wad of cash that Cassandra knew belonged to Jake. "Love is the supreme power. It trumps everything." Cassandra laughed quietly in the background. "Why am I doing this? Go be with the one you love. Take this as a wedding gift." He hugged the man. If anything was known about Ezekiel, it was the fact that he was not a hugger.

"How nice." Cassandra mumbled in the background, not believing the sight of the man in front of her. Ezekiel was out of breath and shaking by the end of the ordeal.

"Oh my gosh. You're the nicest guy in the world. Thank you!" The pilot grabbed his bags and rushed to the exit. Ezekiel put his hands on his knees to catch his breath and regain control over his own body. The headache was becoming unbearable now. Cassandra patted his back to comfort him, although she was slightly irritated.

"Did I do it again?" He asked her.

"Yuppers." Cassandra answered. Ezekiel groaned as he sat back down on the seat.

"I'm sorry. This is all my fault." He mumbled to her. She sat down next to him and placed a hand on his knee.

"It's not your fault. It's the hat. It's exhorting its magical will over you and forcing you to do whatever it wants you to. The only person we should be worried about is Baird." Cassandra smiled at him fondly. She watched as he closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall, his dark hair falling across his eyes.

It was nightfall when Baird, Stone, and Santa joined them at the airport. Ezekiel couldn't help but laugh at the way that Jake was limping slightly with bruises peppering his chin. Serves him right.

"Somebody's doing what they're supposed to. Thank you Ezekiel, thank you Cassandra. The pilot in the plane?" Baird smiled at the two as she asked.

"Not exactly." Cassandra's voice raised slightly.

"He is spending this most glorious of holidays with his fiancee. Merry Christmas." Ezekiel gasped in surprise as he covered his own mouth, surprised at the words that came flowing freely from his lips. Words he had never said before. He saw Colonel Baird's shocked expression and heard the snicker from Santa. "You said hold the plane. Well the plane's right there, so we did." His voice raising in fear. "Merry Christmas." He stopped smiling once again and frowned for the first time that day. Jake did a double take at him in shock.

"There's no pilot?" He asked, moving from shocked to annoyed. He should have told the thief to take off the hat before.

"It's actually kind of positive if you choose to look at it that way. Y'know like the glass is half full instead of half empty." Cassandra tried to cover for her comrade.

"Unless there's a pilot in the glass that can get this bird in the air, there is no positive because I'm pretty sure that I'm the most likely person here to know how to fly a cargo plane, and I do not know how to fly a cargo plane!" Baird shouted in an annoyed voice, directing her anger mainly at the hat wearing librarian. Santa reached out and tapped on her shoulder.

"Santa can fly large objects through the air." He gestured to the plane on the runway. The rest of the team smiled in relief.  
The plane took off smoothly, while the Librarians sat in the cargo part of the plane. There was suddenly the sound of jingling bells.

"Santa's sleigh is missing, right?" Cassandra asked with wide eyes.

"That's what Baird said." Jake answered.  
"I think I know who stole it." She informed the group darkly. Suddenly there was a big gust of wind and the back door opened. From the outside.

"Well. That was new." Dulaque announced to Lamia who sat beside him on the sleigh. Ezekiel felt his blood run cold when he locked eyes with the British villain from his past. Dulaque was the thief who had stabbed him in the back when he was fifteen. Cassandra and Jake stood quickly, bravely, while Ezekiel stood with more caution.

"What kind of a person steals Santa's sleigh?" Cassandra spat at him in disgust.

"A very talented one." Dulaque gloated as he stood. He had the same ego that Ezekiel remembered he had. "Now, hand over Santa. Blah Blah. And you won't be harmed. Blah Blah. A patently transparent lie, of course. I'm going to kill you. Blah Blah. What was it? Oh yeah. Blah."

"Well I see only one of you's got a weapon so…" Jake smiled in victory. Ezekiel knew what to expect, wishing the cowboy hadn't been so cocky. Dulaque pulled on the tip of the cane he was walking with and pulled out a sharp sword. He smirked as Jake's confident countenance fell. Then, the plane pitched sideways, knocking them all to the side of the plane, reminding Ezekiel why he hated heights. The plane leveled suddenly. Dulaque and Lamia stood. Lamia fought with Jake and managed to tie him to the wall, while Dulaque corralled Ezekiel and Cassandra. He tied them to the wall as well, but held Ezekiel at the tip of his sword.

"Miss me?" Dulaque smiled charmingly.

"Not particularly. I got the book you sent me." Ezekiel told him through clenched teeth.

"Good. How's the back doing?" With that little jab, Ezekiel lunged at the man, but didn't get far due to the rope attaching him to the wall.

Jake and Cassandra watched with confused curiosity. Colonel Baird crashed through the door suddenly, with Santa, or Nick as she dubbed him, leaning heavily on her shoulder.

"Guys! Nick is-" She cut herself off as she saw Dulaque and Lamia holding her charges hostage. Lamia held her blade to Jake's throat.

"Santa's been poisoned with holly, mistletoe, old hedge magicks. Hand him over. Or I'll show you how very good I am with a blade." Dulaque promised her with a sinister voice. He watched Santa and Baird exchange glances. "I've killed more Librarians than you've seen stars guardian. Do it." Baird pushed Santa forward towards Dulaque, deciding that the lives of her LITs wasn't worth it. Lamia released Jake from her hold.

"Lamia! Disable the plane." Dulaque ordered, not removing his eyes from Colonel Baird. Lamia pulled out a blade and stabbed it in the side of a control panel. The plane shuddered and shook as it began to descend. "Prepare the sleigh. We shall remove Santa and kill him at our leisure." He spoke in a very charming manner, exactly the way he did when Ezekiel was a meer teenger.

"Jones, give Santa his hat." Baird ordered. Ezekiel gave her a confused glance and mouthed 'what' to her.

"Why?" Dulaque hissed, sword pointing dangerously towards Cassandra.

"It's his. He needs it." Baird answered, when Ezekiel saw that even Santa was confused he understood. She was bluffing to try to trick Dulaque.

"To regain his power." Dulaque sighed in realization. He wore a smug smirk that showed that he clearly thought that he had won.

"What? No." Baird didn't seem very convincing.

"To fight off the poison. It's a talisman isn't it." He chuckled slightly. When he did, Ezekiel knew that he had bought it. "Give it here, boy. I'll take that power now." Ezekiel took a quick glance at Baird, who nodded at him. He reached up and removed the hat from his head and handed it to Dulaque. The second it was off of his head, it felt as though a hundred pounds of pressure had been removed from his skull. The headache had gone from a migraine to a splitting headache. It may not seem like it, but that was quite an improvement. He couldn't help the tiny smile that tugged at the corner of his mouth as he watched him put the hat on.

"Hmmm. Don't feel a thing." Dulaque smirked before going to join Lamia in the back of the sleigh. "I'll be off to kill Santa now."

"Actually, it would make us very, very happy if you would just kill Santa right here." Eve smiled, her plan going into motion. "All of us. So happy."

"Well…" Dulaque shook his head a few times, trying to clear his own mind of the thoughts bubbling their way to the surface. "I'll kill him here then!" He turned to Lamia with a cheesy grin. "Go ahead and take the sleigh. I'm going to kill him here, on the plane!"

"What?! Are you sure?" Lamia yelled, the wind blowing through her hair.

"Well it would really make my Christmas if you sent Lamia right along." Jake laughed, catching on.

"Yes Lamia! Go! Take the sleigh and go!" He told his henchwoman with glee.

"Dulaque, what are you talking about?" Lamia hadn't realized that it was the hat controlling his actions.

"My tippy-top Christmas wish is for her to go!" Ezekiel willed the man. Dulaque bent over a bit, his voice was more gruff, more normal.  
"Go." He ordered her. Lamia took the sleigh and left.

"Actually it would make us all very happy if you exposed all the secrets of magic and told us how to stop the Serpent Brotherhood's plan!" Cassandra tried. Ezekiel couldn't help but snicker at her obvious wish. Dulaque ripped the hat off of his head and Ezekiel grabbed it quickly.

"Bit too much?" Baird asked sarcastically.

"Just a touch." He was slightly pale but angry in realization that he had been tricked. He ran at Baird who kicked him towards the open door. Eve grabbed his hand and held on tightly, not allowing him to fly out of the plane.

"Tell me how to help Nick!" She demanded.

"Or what? You'll let go?" Dulaque jeered. "Colonel Baird I know something you don't!"

"I know I'm holding you in this plane!" She responded matter-of-factly.

"To what end?" Dulaque released his hand from her grip and fell to the ground, laughing. The door closed behind her as she walked back to her team. Something felt strange about his death. Something about it seemed fake to Ezekiel. Too scripted. Baird took the hat from his thieving hands and placed it on Santa's head.

"How is he?" She asked them all.

"Santa…" The plane lurched to the side, throwing them all against the wall. He went to open his mouth again, only to cover it as he turned to throw up.

"Ain't gonna fly this plane." Baird finished for him. She walked toward the cockpit, Jake followed behind her closely. After roughly landing the plane, the group trudged through the snow into an airport hangar. Ezekiel shivered deeply as they got the lights turned on. He didn't believe in having to wear a heavy jacket. If it wasn't above 40 degrees Fahrenheit, he wasn't there. He tried to get Jenkins on the phone.

"Alright, do your thing, Nick." Baird smiled at the weak man.

"I… can't" Nick answered in the first person for the first time that day.

"What do you mean 'I'? When did you stop referring to yourself in the third person? Nick you're freaking me out." Baird sounded a little freaked out, to be honest, but who could blame her. They had come all that way, suffered all day, and were about to fail.

"The poison. The separation from my talisman." He breathed, his voice weak.

"But I gave that back." Cassandra could hear the guilt in Ezekiel's voice. She knew he was blaming himself. When she glanced up at him, she couldn't help but smiled at how cute he looked with a red nose and snow in his dark hair.

"It's too late. I contain the energies. The goodwill of all mankind. I can't focus. We've failed." Nick breathed heavily. It was beginning to warm in the bunker after Jake lit a small stove. It was almost peaceful until Nick said the words that Ezekiel uttered to himself on his first Christmas without his mother. His only wish was for her to come back. Nick simply said, "Santa has failed."

Green lights glowed above them as they sat in sadness. "The aurora borealis is going nuts." Jake informed them from where he stood, gazing out the window.

"C'mon Nick. Ho! Ho! Ho! Fire up some Christmas cheer." Baird urged the man.

"I can't." He sighed in disappointment. "The poison weakened me. I possess the power, but not the will to deliver the gift."

"We can't have come all this way to have failed. We can't." Cassandra protested as she looked to Ezekiel for support, but he remained silent.

"We need a new vessel. Someone else must channel the power. Someone else must be the Santa for just this night, but there's not guarantee that a mortal will survive." Nick told the group.

"Look, we're the Librarians. We'll take that risk." Jake spoke for them all.

"No. We need someone more attuned to the night. Someone more bound to Christmas." Nick told them. Cassandra stepped forward.

"I love Christmas." She volunteered herself.

"Or me. I wore the hat." Ezekiel stepped up, which surprised Jake.

"There is no one more in tune with Christmas than the baby born on the last stroke of midnight. So named by her parents as the girl born on Christmas…" Nick trailed off.

"Eve." Colonel Baird sighed and stepped forward, stretching out her hands. Nick stood and connected palms with her. Ezekiel watched as he told her that she would splinter across the world. He warned her of her impending doom. The normal Tuesday for the Librarians. There was also a really epic pep talk about goodwill from Santa, but Ezekiel wasn't really paying much attention because he was overwhelmed by the smell of strawberries that flowed from Cassandra. There was a flash of green light and Eve gasped as she fell back into Jake's arms.

"But she didn't go anywhere! Did it work?" Cassandra asked, panic slightly evident in her voice.

"She went. Everywhere." Nick assured her.

"You okay Eve?" Ezekiel asked, feeling confident.

"Call me that one more time and we'll be picking up pieces of you off the ice floor for a year." She threatened. He laughed lightly.

"She's okay." He said, mainly to Cassandra because no one was really listening. They were focusing on Colonel Baird.

"Ho! Ho! H-" Nick began but Eve held up a finger in warning but winked at the man as though they shared a secret, which they sort of did. He sighed in response.

After Nick had gone back to the North Pole, the team returned to the Annex. Ezekiel laid with his head flat on the tabletop, sleeping. Cassandra smiled as Jake entered the room.

"We should do something for her birthday." She whispered as they stood by the table at which their teammate slept.

"Do you wanna try to do a last minute surprise party?" Jake whispered back.

"Sure. You decorate, I'll get the cake. The only issue is the present." Cassandra thought for a moment. Jake held up a finger in realization. He grabbed an air horn from Flynn's desk and gestured for Cassandra to cover her ears. She shook her head at his childishness but complied. Jake pushed the tab as the loud noise emitted from the horn. Ezekiel jumped up from his seat in surprise. He must've leapt pretty hard because his chair flew out from behind him.

"What the hell?!" He groaned angrily to the cowboy.

"Oh good. You're awake. Go find Baird a birthday present." Jake chuckled as he caught the young man off guard. Ezekiel rolled his eyes and went out the backdoor, in search for a present for the Colonel.  
A few hours later, Eve was chatting with Jenkins.

"-Any plans for the holidays?" Jenkins asked her as they rounded a corner.

"Nope. Just gonna have a nice day in peace and-" She began.

"SURPRISE!" The Lits interrupted. They had a lovely party where they shared stories about happy holidays in the past. Jake noticed that Ezekiel hadn't said anything about his past childhood holidays. He didn't push it though.

After the party was over, Ezekiel went back to his room in search of his pills, only to find they were all missing. He would have killed Jake if he hadn't felt so nauseous. He fled to the bathroom where he threw up the two slices of cake he had just digested. Jake, who was standing outside his door, snickered quietly as he pulled out the last of Ezekiel's pills from his pocket. Detox was going to be a bitch.

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**Can't wait to hear everyone's reactions on this chapter! **


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Hello! Fangirlandtheories here! It's kinda my fault that this took so long to update because I did most of the writing. It's wonderful to get to be on board with this story. I can't wait to get to talk to all of you again soon! XOXO ~FGaT**

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**Hey there everyone! Everything'sGonnaBeAlright this time! Thanks for all being so patient for this chapter! What FGaT said about it being her fault for the update is completely incorrect, definitely my fault! She could not have been more patient with me as a cowriter than she was! I had a relapse with my depression that made it very difficult for me to think of anything to write or even find the interest to write. That left most of the work on FGaT's shoulders, which I feel very guilty about. So a big thanks to her and you should all love her and read &amp; review her stories cause this chapter wouldn't have gotten done without her unwavering patience and incredible perseverance! I'm very grateful for you, FGaT, and you are awesome!  
Thanks everyone for reading, reviewing, and waiting! Hope you all will enjoy this next chapter that we did and I look forward to hearing from you guys! Feel free to pm me with any questions, thoughts, ideas, or concerns, I love to hear it all and I'm hoping for some awesome ideas that FGaT and I would love to use! Thanks everyone! (I'm going to shut up now, sorry for making this so long! GO! READ! YOU ARE NOW FREE FROM MY LONG AND BORING A/N!) - EGBA  
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Ezekiel didn't know a word to construe how angry he was towards Jake. Pissed wasn't enough to describe it. He was furious. He would have almost gone as far as saying he despised Jacob Stone in the weeks following Christmas. How dare he think that he could control his life. He had no right to make any decisions for Ezekiel. The problem with them fighting is that it was becoming a hassle for the entire team.

Any time Jake entered a room Ezekiel would stomp away and slam a door as he left. It had been going on since the day after Christmas and the others were starting to get annoyed. Jake had simply walked into the Annex and look at the Australian, but that was enough to make Ezekiel slam down his soda, causing a bit to spill out, and walk away. Baird sighed and rolled her eyes as Cassandra turned to them after both men were gone.

"So do you think there's any way that things will just blow over with the boys?" Cassandra asked Baird and Jenkins with a knit brow.

"Not a chance." Replied Baird the same time as Jenkins responded with a short 'no'.

"No clue what happened between those two idiots but there is no chance that they're just going to settle this over a 'hey, we need to work together still so let's just pretend it didn't happen'. I wish they would though." Colonel Baird continued with annoyance watching as their resident thief quietly came into the annex and started cleaning up the mess that he had left earlier when Stone had entered the room. They needed a solution, and quickly. They figured that Ezekiel would be the easiest to talk to. The three turned to each other and nodded, agreeing over their silent plan.

"Zeke?" Cassandra started hesitantly as Ezekiel paused, "What's wrong?"

He tensed at her question but didn't respond, instead choosing to continue tidying up.

"Jones…" Baird sighed, looking at his hunched over form. He grabbed a rag and start scrubbing the sticky table, where he had spilled his drink in his haste to leave earlier.

"Mr. Jones, you are being highly juvenile. Please just explain what your issue is so we can proceed with being adults." Jenkins demanded impatiently.

Ezekiel scrubbed harder and more feverishly. They were just about to break through to him, when the last person they wanted to, entered the room. Jake looked angry, yet concerned. He was worried about the kid, but he was more pissed off than anything. He stomped towards the thief, fully prepared to yell at the man, but before he even reached him, Ezekiel threw the rag down onto the table. What happened next was monumental and quite surprising to each and every one of the librarians.

"Just shove off, Stone! Actually all of you! All of you just leave me be! Why do you bastards have to control everything I do!? I know I'm just a joke to all of you, that none of you think I've actually got the smarts necessary for the job! I'm just here to annoy you all, right!? Well you're freaking wrong! I do all of the tech things and I know all of the security systems! Without me you guys couldn't even get into any of the places we go!" Jones screamed at the others who were still in shock. "You guys just left the damn hat on me for amusement! Did you not know that it felt like my head was splitting apart the whole time or did you just not care? Did it not matter that I had no damn will of my own!? I hate not having control on my life! And you! Stone, always sticking your freaking nose in where it doesn't belong! I'm an adult; I'll do whatever I want, so stop trying to control me!" He gasped for breath at the end of his rant and slammed his shaky fist on the table before turning and storming away. The others turned to each other in awkward silence.

"An adult? What is he? Eighteen?" Stone asked, trying for sarcasm to fill the uncomfortable atmosphere. Baird raised an eyebrow at him as Cassandra just stared at the door, wondering what had happened to upset Ezekiel so much.

"Actually I'm fairly sure that Mr. Jones is in his twenties. He looks much younger than he is. I believe though, that much like everything he does, that is intentional." Jenkins tutted before walking away as Stone huffed in irritation. Just what he needed, one more thing he didn't know about Jones. They all went to bed very unsettled that night. Meanwhile, Ezekiel sat against his door, something he had been doing a lot recently. It stopped anyone from entering his room without his knowledge. He sighed as he mentally scolded himself. He hated how irritable he was getting. He didn't like being angry because he knew how scary it was to have someone be angry at them. He knew that the withdrawal, not his own personality, was to blame. A lot of things that were happening recently could be blamed on the withdrawal. Among them, Ezekiel's tremoring hands, enlarged pupils, loss of appetite, abdominal cramps, and especially the vomiting. He had never thrown up so much in his life. He was physically exhausted all the time, but sleep never came easily.

Eventually, however, he fell asleep.

It had been three long days since Ezekiel's blow up and he had been acting normal ever since the day. The others tried to follow his example, not wanting to have a repeat of the awkward situation. They all kept his words in mind though, realizing that perhaps he was more insecure than they thought he was. Before Jones' harsh words, the only one to know that Ezekiel didn't feel like he had a place amongst the Librarians, was Stone. Though privately, Jenkins, the ancient grump that he was, did not think the young thief worked hard or seriously enough to deserve being a librarian. That opinion would soon change, however.

The thief was off doing something else as the others rushed around. The clippings book was shaking violently with a new mission. They were currently investigating a string of earthquakes that were occurring all over Asia.

"Yes, yes, we get it! Stop panicking! It is unseemly." Jenkins demanded of the wildly thrashing book. "Ah, alright.. Yellowstone. Mongolia. Taiwan. China!" He informed the others, raising his hand to show his disbelief of the situation.

"And two in Japan. Who knew earthquakes were magic?" Cassandra asked in confusion.

"No, earthquakes aren't magic; they're a result of magic." Correcting Cassandra, Jenkins looked back at his work as Stone entered with a large tome.

"My old Slavish is a little rusty but I found two other incidents of massive geothermal phenomena dating back as far as 1643!" Stone said almost too excitedly.

"Colonel Baird did you find the-" Jenkins started to inquire.

"Hold on! My desk reset itself to Flynn's… Whatever. Here, here, here! According to the scroll of Yosemite Sam.." Baird interrupted him only to be interrupted back. He muttered something unintelligible in correction to Yosemite Sam.

"Yeah, okay, according to it, water spirits have been responsible for weather anomalies dating back to more than five score and nine years. Score?" Baird gave a derisive snort to the word.

"Twenty years." The three responded readily.

"I know what a score is! I was commenting on the use of it." Colonel Baird informed them with an insulted pride, wondering if that was how Jones always felt.

"You are an absolute legend mate! That is exactly what we need!" Ezekiel said into his cell phone as he entered confidentially.

"Yes? Good. What? Some information on the eruptions?" Jenkins asked Jones as others looked up to him expectantly.

"What? No. That was the pizza guy. I figured if we're gonna be working all day and researching we could use some-" There came a crash from the door and the LITs, their guardian, and their caretaker all turned to it in a panic, each of them reaching for something to protect themselves and the annex. All except for Ezekiel, though no one seemed to notice. Ezekiel sunk below a desk and watched with his eyes peeping out above. The crash reminded him of his father storming into a room and attacking his mother and himself.

A very wet librarian stumbled in, his yellow raincoat glistening with raindrops.

"It's the dragons!" Flynn exclaimed, his voice ominously hoarse with excitement. Ezekiel raised himself from behind the desk as the others relaxed with relief. Jenkins nodded in agreement and approval.

"Hey, you got the door workin'!" Flynn states casually to the flabbergasted LITs and guardian.

"One, two, three! Didn't lose anybody? Fantastic." Counting the LITs Flynn's eyes light up as he sees none of them are dead yet. They all rushed at them, all speaking at once. Flynn nodded at Eve.

"Guardian."

"Librarian." She returned with a smile. Flynn turned to Jenkins.

"Jenkins." He nodded at him as well.

"Sir. Have you come to take them away? I keep their bags packed." Jenkins said in a highly serious tone.

"So these earthquakes and geysers are being caused by dragons?" Baird asked, ignoring the sarcastic caretaker.

"Not caused by. They are dragons." He answered, removing his wet hat. Jenkins nodded in agreement. "All dragons live beneath the earth. They sleep ninety percent of their life away but when angered they awake. Jenkins can tell you, they can wreak havoc."

"Wait, how much havoc?" Cassandra asked, brow furrowed in confusion.

"If it is dragons, until there is no more havoc to be wreaked." Jenkins told her. Ezekiel was a little annoyed at the overuse of the words havoc and wreak. Also, because his pizza wasn't there yet. It had been a while since he had ordered. Flynn spread his arms as he approached his desk.

"Exactly as I left it." He said lovingly as he gazed upon his mess.

"Yeah, about that-" Eve started.

"Eastern dragons. Ooh you never know which side of the subterranean bed they'll wake up on, but, western dragons, albeit a bit more hotheaded," He turned to Eve with a wide, childlike smile on his face. "See what I did there? Hotheaded?" He ignored the fact that no one laughed at his joke and continued with helpful information. "They're a bit more consistent.

"Sir, if I may respectfully disagree, western dragons are thugs. Hoarders. Eastern dragons being elemental spirits we can reason with them if we take the time-" He was cut off.

"Jenkins! And Flynn. What are you talking about?" She looked between them.

"Eastern and Western dragons have been in a blood feud for three thousand years." Flynn told her as though it should be obvious. Jenkins held up his hand and interrupted.

"Not dissimilar to the East coast, West coast hip hop rivalry of the late twentieth century." Ezekiel couldn't help but ask.

"Jenkins, you know about hip hop?" The others rolled their eyes at his immaturity. Ezekiel certainly noticed but didn't say anything.

"Ah well as Eric B. and Rakim's so happy flowed, I'm paid in full." Jenkins walked away as the others stared at him. Ezekiel smiled but shook it off quickly as they refocused on the mission.

"Uh, both types are extremely possessive and if something of theirs is taken, they can act very harshly." Flynn's eyes flicked towards Ezekiel unintentionally at the mention of taking things.

"The havoc!" Cassandra exclaimed, putting two and two together.

"Magic coming back into the world hasn't helped. No, the dragons waking up is apocalyptic enough, that thus it requires some of the more diplomatic aspects of librarianism. And thus, my premature return." Flynn paused. "Did I just use thus twice?"

"And librarianism." Baird smiled. Flynn bared his teeth and shook his head at his own word choice.

"Do you have any idea what they could have taken?" Jake asked.

"No! Not yet. Stone, you and Ezekiel have got to get on dragon history and lore. Cassandra, I need you to focus on heat signals of the western dragons. Jenkins! I'm going to need my.." Flynn shouted before said man appeared behind him, carrying a tan suit with an orange carnation. "Thank you very much. And Eve, you have to-"

"Stop!" Baird attempted to cut him off.

"No, don't stop, go." Flynn began again but was effectively cut off by Baird grabbing his lips.

"Stop. We have to talk." She pulled him into a room far away from the others where they had their talk. Meanwhile…

"Do you want lore or history?" Jake asked. Only silence answered him. He sighed in anger at the stubborn thief. "Fine. Lore it is." He smacked the book into his hands. He noticed the sharp tremors running through his hands and glanced at his face. He was paler than usual and his pupils were huge. "You alright?"

"You should know." Ezekiel told him, voice tight and bitter.

"This is all withdrawal?" Jake whispered so that the others couldn't hear.

"Why do you care? You certainly didn't before, so why now?" Ezekiel asked suddenly.

"Well- I just- I mean-" Jake stumbled as the thief's eyes bore into him. He took a deep breath and composed himself. "I don't. Forget it." He turned back to his work, just as the doorbell rang.

"Pizza. It's about damn time." Ezekiel jumped up from his seat and swayed slightly, which didn't go unnoticed by Jake, before he began power walking to the front door. Just a minute later, Flynn tore his way into the Annex. He sighed in relief when he saw three of the other members of the team. His relief changed to fear as realization dawned on him.

"Where's Ezekiel?" Cassandra pointed to the front door. Flynn let out a worried groan as he ran toward the door and the thief. He had rounded the corner just as Ezekiel got to the door.

"Nooo!" He shouted, to no avail. Ezekiel pulled open the door, revealing a short Japanese man dressed in a plain suit.

"Who here speaks for the Library?" He asked bluntly.

"I do, mate. You got my double cheese extra pepperoni?" Ezekiel asked hopefully to the man he thought was the pizza delivery boy. Suddenly, Flynn burst out from behind him, completely out of breath.

"Me! I do! He doesn't speak for the Library, I do." Flynn shoved Ezekiel out of the way so that he stood between him and Mr. Drake.

"Who speaks first, speaks for the Library." Mr. Drake spoke coldly.

"Technically, that is true, that is true technically." Flynn tried to explain quickly.

"Is there not to be an intersession?" Mr. Drake ignored Flynn and pointed his question at Ezekiel, who shrugged, not knowing what the hell was going on.

"No. I don't believe there should be…" Flynn glanced back at Ezekiel as he spoke to the man. Ezekiel didn't like how he was looking at him like he was an idiot or a mosquito that was more of a nuisance then it was dangerous.

"You do not speak for the library!" Mr. Drake pushed Flynn aside and looked Ezekiel in the eyes with his own, cold and black. "Is there not to be an intercession?" He asked him. Ezekiel didn't take note of Flynn shaking his head behind him.

"Intercess all you want, mate. As long as I'm intercessing with my double cheese extra pep!" Ezekiel held up a fist to bump with the man, but he had walked away already. "I'm assuming he doesn't have my pizza."

"No. No, he does not!" Flynn answered him angrily before following the man.

"So he's not the pizza guy?" Ezekiel asked, closing the door.

"No, he is not." Flynn called back. Ezekiel groaned. The day was just getting worse for him. He felt awful, he was being treated like dirt, and now he couldn't even have the luxury of a good pizza, not only because it never came, but also because everyone would be judging him for a stupid mistake at that point and would judge him if he made mention of his missed lunch. Although, it's not like they didn't already judge him. He followed Flynn and Drake back to the Annex. Cassandra, Eve, and Jake were looking over papers at one table and Jenkins was at another.

"Let the intercession of dragons commence!" Drake's voice boomed throughout the Annex, leaving a gust of wind that blew through the other librarians' hair. They jumped in surprise at the volume at which the man spoke before looking back at Jenkins for the answer to what exactly was going on.

"This… isn't good is it?" Ezekiel asked, almost hoping that he was wrong.

"No. No it is not." Flynn pulled down his jacket angrily. Ezekiel had done it again. He screwed everything up, just like always. He felt like running and hiding but he knew he couldn't.

"This is weird, hm?" Jake whispered to Cassandra who nodded back at him, eyes wide. "I mean even for this job, this is weird."

"Okay, so, he's a dragon in a man costume?" Cassandra asked.

"He is a lawyer…" Jenkins answered.

"I represent the feilong. The western pigs have stolen the mystic pearl of the feilong." Mr. Drake explained his cause to the group. Ezekiel stood between Flynn and Eve who kept looking at him like he was a disappointing child.

"So there's pigs and dragons now? Great!" Ezekiel was quickly shushed by Baird. At least she was nice about it, whereas Flynn just mouthed 'will you shut up?' at him.

"The arbiter of the Library is now on record." Mr. Drake informed him. Flynn stepped forward once again.

"He is not actually the arb-" He tried to explain.

"You do not speak for the Library." Mr. Drake told him, once again.

"Seriously? Are- Are any of us-" Baird stepped forward.

"You do not speak for the Library!" He stepped between them and stood right in front of Ezekiel, with his back turned to the others. "Only the arbiter can speak." The dragon man came very close to his face. Ezekiel felt his heartbeat quicken, having not realized how much Mr. Drake looked like his father. "If the pearl is not returned by tomorrow at sunset, I cannot withhold the fury of the feilong." He growled.

"That's why we're going to get that pearl back into your hands, ASAP." Flynn meekly stepped back before he was yelled at again. "Right, Colonel Baird?"

"Right, Mr. Carsen." She nodded her assurance to Ezekiel, who she noticed looked slightly terrified.

"Psst!" Jenkins whispered to Flynn who turned around. He pointed to himself before pointing at Ezekiel. Flynn understood suddenly.

"Yes! Arbiter, have you selected your council for the intercession?" Flynn held up his hand and pointed at the older man, mouthing his name.

"My… what?" Ezekiel asked, confused at his actions. He was never a very good lip reader. Eve and Flynn both acted like they were putting on ties and pointed back at the smaller group behind them. Cassandra was using her whole body to point at Jenkins, whereas Jake just enjoyed watching him suffer. Jenkins had his finger pointed at his smiling face.

"You mean… Jenkins?" He asked, even though he knew that that was exactly who they meant.

"Ugh! Yes, thank you! I gladly accept the honor of intercession consigliere for the arbiter of the Library." Jenkins rushed forward and stood next to Ezekiel, who was still a bit pale with fear.

"Arbiter," Mr. Drake pulled a pocket watch out to check the time. "We will begin the list of grievances in… eight minutes." He decided before walking away.

Flynn clear his throat. "Ah, well. What say the arbiter and consigliere stay here with Mr. Drake, while the rest of us…" Flynn pointed back towards the door and made a click noise. Just perfect. Now his day was becoming worse. No pizza, being treated like an idiot, a rather harsh round of detox, and now he was stuck settling some boring disputes with Jenkins and a guy who looked and acted as threatening as his father. Awesome. Eve glared at him as she walked by, but he had no idea why. He hadn't tried to do anything wrong, the opposite in fact. He had originally ordered the pizza so that he could be out of the way of the others. They turned to face the dragon and Jenkins cleared his throat.

"May I get you anything to drink?" He asked.

"The tears of our enemies, rinsed from the bodies as their bones are crushed." Mr. Drake answered with a sadistic smile.

"I have jasmine tea…" Jenkins supplied.

"Oooh, Jasmine. Yes, please." Mr. Drake agreed, lacking in ferocity. Jenkins smiled, gave a slight bow, and went to make the tea, pulling Ezekiel with him. As he went into the kitchen, he turned to look back at the young thief who kept looking at the man in the Annex.

"Questions, you have them, ask them." He ordered.

"What do you mean by 'grievances'?" Ezekiel asked.

"He's written up a short list of issues the dragons have had since the last intercession which was… where was that? Oh! San Francisco, 1906." Jenkins answered.

"The earthquake that destroyed San Francisco. Was that before or after?" He wondered.

"Because of. Grievances were not reconciled and havoc was wreaked. Mr. Jones, it would really be best if I take the lead." Jenkins told him. Ezekiel felt his stomach drop, and for the first time in a long time, he spoke his mind freely.

"You don't think I can handle this." He realized, a tight, fake smile plastered across his face. He was trying to hide the fact that he was slightly hurt that no one trusted his abilities.

"Oh, please. Well let's see, is there a polite way to say, 'absolutely not?' You know what, actually who cares. Absolutely not!" Jenkins thundered down at him. Ezekiel tried to ignore the numbness that was spreading through his body. No matter what he did, no one looked at him like a valid member of the team.

"I'm a librarian, I can handle this." He told him, walking towards the dragon. "Fire up the short list of grievances, mate." He smiled at him politely. He was not expecting Mr. Drake to pull out a five foot long scroll written in ancient Chinese characters. Jenkins gave him a smug smile as he watched the overwhelmed Librarian, basking in the moment.

Ezekiel sighed, and sat on a table surrounded by books, all while Mr. Drake began running down the list of grievances. He laid back, waiting for it to conclude, all the while tossing a hacky sack in the air, much to Jenkins' dismay. He felt awful; almost glad he had nothing to eat that day. He knew he would've thrown it back up at this point. His head felt like it was split down the middle and like his brain was mush that was clawing its way out of his head. He was sweaty and shaky, his mind was foggy. He knew that Mr. Drake was not his father, yet he felt the same fear towards him. His mind bringing those harsh images back to the surface. Paranoia setting in, telling him that someone was going to attack him. The only good part about it was how tired he suddenly felt. The hacky sack fell back to the desk and the world melted away, with no pain or anguish, just cool darkness. It felt like he had only been asleep for a few seconds when he heard Mr. Drake's voice drone on.

"203: Overflight privileges for the North American territories. Arbiter, what is your response to number 203? Arbiter!" He shouted, waking the young man.

"Huh?! What." Ezekiel groaned. Suddenly the doorbell gave off a high pitched ring, just like before. Ezekiel sat up with a start. "Finally! Pizza!" He jumped off the table excitedly. Now that he had slept, he was feeling quite ravenous. Though they thought he didn't, he heard the exchange between Mr. Drake and Jenkins.

"He's a terrible arbiter." Mr. Drake stated, a tinge of venom in his tone.

"Preach it to the choir, bub." Jenkins replied monotonously. It's not like he wasn't trying. Sure, he had fallen asleep, but that wasn't his fault. If anyone's, it was Jake's. He answered the door to reveal a short man with a gold earring.

"It's not the pizza." He said dejectedly to the room when he returned to the men.

"I am Dobra of the City of Bronze, representative of the Djinn. I am here for the conclave." He informed them.

"Conclave?! Someone called a conclave?" Jenkins asked.

"Was I deceived? If so I will drown the world in blood!" Dobra gestured maniacally. Jenkins made calming movements towards him.

"No blood drowning. Come on." He gestured him toward the large table.

"Welcome to the Conclave!" Ezekiel smiled.

"No, don't-" Jenkins was cut off by a lovely elven girl handing Ezekiel another card.

"This is Lady… Silla…" Ezekiel tried to sound out the name.

"Sillilandria, of the Fae legions." She walked, gracefully towards the table where Dobra was. Another man entered from behind, he was burly with a barely buttoned white shirt on. The odd thing was, he was wearing a kilt.

"This is-uh.. Kooklan of the Iron Kingdom." The man said nothing but joined his spot at the table. Another woman entered, she stood about three feet taller than Ezekiel, who was a relatively tall guy. "And…" He glanced up at her head in surprise at her height. She gave him a card as well but remained silent before she took her place. "Oh c'mon! This is just a bunch of consonants in a row!" Ezekiel complained before Jenkins dragged him away behind closed doors where they could talk.

"Someone must have called a quorum." Jenkins explained their situation.

"Then… what's a conclave?" Ezekiel asked, suddenly more confused than he was before. Jenkins gave a huff of breath before explaining.

"A conclave. It is a UN for all of the supernatural factions where they can peacefully resolve their differences and over which, the ARBITER of the Library presides." Jenkins explained, losing his focus.

"Right! And we're negotiating with Mr. Drake. Got it!" Ezekiel tried to walk by him but he pushed him back to where he was.

"Hey! You so don't got it." Jenkins snapped. He didn't notice the sad look that came onto Ezekiel face. He was trying his very hardest to do something right for a change. "You know I warned you. And per usual, I was ignored. You know something, it's fitting that Flynn should show up now, when you people are proving that you shouldn't even-" Jenkins grumbled.

"Be here, in your Annex. Yeah, heard that one before. Not your Annex, our Library. I'm tired of you making that mistake." Ezekiel finished for him.

"YOU'RE NOT A LIBRARIAN!" Jenkins yelled, this time noticing the large flinch from the young man. He dialed down his volume. "You're a thief, and a thief who does not know what he's doing." He spat at the man.

"I never know what I'm doing, that's my superpower, mate." Ezekiel pushed his way around him, successfully this time. "Smarter to be lucky than lucky to be smart." He called back as he went back into the Annex. That struck a nerve with Jenkins for some reason. Ezekiel was always overconfident, believing he could do anything. Now here he was saying that he never knew what he was doing and that he was smart for being lucky rather than lucky to be smart. Did he think that he wasn't smart? He wouldn't be a Librarian-In-Training if he wasn't smart. Jenkins sighed, ignoring the heaviness of his heart, and went back into the Annex. He watched as Ezekiel actually figured out what he was doing. He pounded a gavel onto a wood block and smiled at the group.

"And so it's seconded." He wrote something down on a piece of paper, before moving on. "Now, next order of business. Motion to allow lupin membership for both the guild of fictional entities and the world crime league on a provisional basis. Do I hear a second?" He asked.

"Second." Dobra called out.

"The motion is seconded. All those in favor?" He asked.

"I." The group called out.

"Motion passes. Pleasure to be your arbiter." He gave Jenkins a smug smile. He would never admit it, but Ezekiel was doing a remarkable job for someone who knew nothing about magical processes or diplomacy.

"A request to be recognized." Ezekiel's smile melted away the second he heard the cold, smooth British accent. Beside him, Jenkins' jaw clenched as he looked at the man who stood before him. He stood in the doorway, eating a slice of Ezekiel's beloved pizza.

"That's Dulaque." He whispered at Jenkins, who was surprised to hear the steely anger in his voice. "He's eating my extra cheese and double pepperoni. He's beyond evil now. Jenkins are you gonna help me out here or… what?" He asked him. Jenkins said nothing. He turned and left the Annex, leaving Ezekiel with a villain not only from his present, but of his past.

"Tick. Tick. Tick. Ezekiel Jones." He bit into the pizza much to Ezekiel's dismay. His stomach was growling, but he ignored it. There were bigger problems than when and if he would get his next meal, besides he could go hungry for a lot longer. "Does the arbiter recognize me?" He asked with an odd formality.

"Nope! Never seen you before." Ezekiel tried to play dumb, hoping he wouldn't have to allow him to join the group.

"The fae legions vouch for the son of Ban and accept his… bonafides." Lady Sillilandria said in a flirty tone. Dulaque gave her a mocking disapproving look that made her smile even wider.

"My esteemed colleagues, entities, extra plain armenes," Dulaque addressed them. "These have been trying times. And yet, how long has it been since we met in conclave? Long enough for one's small problems to fester. Do you know why? Because the Librarian refused to deal with it. I submit that the Library, as an institution, has outlived its usefulness. In fact, if rumor is to be believed, the current Librarian, has lost the library, itself." Dulaque told the group. Ezekiel had been growing fed up with Dulaque, what with his obvious blows to his team and to himself. Also, because he was still angry with what Jenkins and the others thought of him. Not to mention the anger being caused by withdrawal.

He just wanted to curl up in a ball and sleep, but he couldn't. If he did, they would lose the Library and it would be his fault.

"Only because you attacked it!" Ezekiel shouted, standing up.

"An unfounded accusation, hardly proper, from the Arbiter." Dulaque smiled, Ezekiel was falling right into his trap. The others were joining his side because Ezekiel didn't seem to be a fit Arbiter. "Are these the hands we should be putting our trust in?"

"What other hands did you have in mind?" Mr. Drake asked. Now everyone seemed to think that Ezekiel was good at nothing. Dulaque gave him a knowing smile before taking a seat at the table. Ezekiel needed a new plan. He needed Jenkins. He rushed out the door just in time to see him walking down the path.

"You know something? Every lecture, you make everyone feel like idiots but you slide just enough hints in there to point us in the right direction. You want to help us." He told Jenkins. He may be crappy at pretty much everything else, but Ezekiel Jones could always figure out what people were thinking.

"Good luck in prison." Jenkins nodded at him. A harsh blow but one Ezekiel could forgive, seeing as he'd received much worse from people.

"But at the same time, you act like you're better than everyone else. Complain about how we're in your way, invading your Annex. You know, I pride myself on being able to read people. I could never figure you out until now. The real you is a coward." He spat at him, although feeling slightly hypocritical.

"I am not a coward. Not for leaving this situation. You do not know-" Jenkins started but was interrupted.

"You're not a coward for leaving, but for not choosing between the two." He told him.

"Interesting lecture from a man who can't decide whether he's going to be a thief or a Librarian." That one stung a little. It was too honest, too true to who he was.

"Yeah, well this Librarian is going back in there to save this place, and this thief is going in there to take Dulaque down a peg. Neither one's running away." Ezekiel began to walk back.

"I did choose. Once. I chose a side in a very complicated… I chose. No good came of it. And over the years, I chose again and again and again." He stepped close to Ezekiel. "Each time, a little hope, lots of blood, but nothing really changed. I finally learned my lesson, and I came here, just to do my work, alone, because why choose? Nothing, oh God, nothing ever changes." He turned back to his car and began loading it up again, ignoring the tension filled silence.

"You did." Ezekiel sighed, and before Jenkins could even turn around, he was gone. He couldn't believe that Ezekiel Jones was right.

"You stole my pizza!" Ezekiel shouted, back in the Annex after the dispute he had with Jenkins. He knew he had little hope at succeeding but it was worth a shot. "I motion to close the floor."

"Thank you Librarian. I second that motion, which means it's time for a vote to remove the Librarians as arbiters of the conclave." Dulaque smirked.

"No, wait, I move to reopen the floor." Ezekiel panicked. He had no idea what he was doing.

"Objection." One of the members of the group called out.

"I mean we-" Ezekiel was cut off by a deep booming voice.

"Point. Of. Order." Jenkins buttoned his jacket as he moved into the room. "The altar resolution of 1124 states that no conclave can begin without first reading the disputes of the previous conclave." Ezekiel gave him a wide smile and breathed in relief.

"That should have happened at the beginning of the meeting." Dulaque sighed, annoyed. Jenkins, now standing beside Ezekiel, who had his arms crossed with a wide smile on his face, began again.

"As noted in the second amendment in the Wall of Newton bylaw, second page, section c, paragraph 9, states, in case of a transition between negotiations-" Dulaque interrupted Jenkins once again.

"You declared a conclave." Dulaque tried to stop the process again.

"Mr. Drake, properly declared an intercession, however, Mr. Jones did not properly announce a conclave, so we have skipped the reading of the disputes from the last conclave, after all, he is a terrible arbiter."

Ezekiel's smile fell. The group nodded in agreement. There it was. They couldn't let him succeed without insulting him first. "It wouldn't do to talk without protocol." He turned to Ezekiel. "You'll find the disputes in section D. Shelf 14, thank you." Ezekiel went to find them while the rest of the group took a break. After he returned they began to read through the rather long and tedious list of past disputes.

"Motion to allow cellular phone technology as a formal branch of wizardry was accepted by-" Mr. Drake read.

"Enough! I move to accept the disputes and return to the business at hand." Dulaque growled.

"I'd rather hear the rest of the minutes." Ezekiel smiled.

"You refuse to call for a vote?" Dulaque asked. Ezekiel answered yes at the same time that Jenkins answered no. "A motion has been made and has been seconded but he refuses to call for a vote. The Arbiter is out of order and I call for an immediate vote of no confidence in the Arbiter and by my extension, the Librarians." Ezekiel's eyes widened when he realized that he screwed everything up once again. Shockingly enough, Jenkins put a hand on his back to reassure him. "I call for a vote to end the Library." Dulaque shouted excitedly. "Do I have a second?" The back door opened suddenly and in walked Flynn. Except he carried himself differently. He was now more full of himself.

"I!" He seconded.

"You don't even know what you're voting for." Mr. Drake shook his head at the man who was carrying a small golden apple.

"No? Don't I, Mr. Drake? Nice pair of clichés on your feet, by the way." Jenkins and Ezekiel looked around trying to figure out what exactly was going on. "This is a conclave, and Dulaque has called for a vote, which could only be a vote of no confidence, which means…" The back door opened again, and in spilled Jake, Cassandra, and Colonel Baird.

"You three again? Out! Out I say! Out minions! Out imposters! Daddy's home!" Jenkins grabbed Ezekiel by his collar and followed the trio, worried about the knife Flynn was carrying alongside the apple.

"Where was I? Ah yes, I'm the Librarian. Not that broken down chicken little and not his highly overrated criminal companion. Me. I'm the one you came to see afterall. The Librarian. The big noise! How are ya, Dobra? Still cheating on those seven wives of yours? Still doing that whole 'drowning the world in blood' thing every time you're feeling a little insecure?" Flynn moved to the genie before turning his sight to Elfish woman. "Why, Lady Sil. Still working on those self-esteem issues by throwing yourself at every-" He was cut off by a British accent.

"Enough." Dulaque cut off his speech.

"Is that word even in your vocabulary?" Flynn paused for a moment.

"Nevermind. You know what? If you want it, I mean if you really want it, you can have it. Take it! Take the Library, take the books, take the artifacts, take the responsibility! I don't want it!" Flynn shouted, red in the face. "I have seen things. Magic, the power, do you honestly think that any single one of you could take me?" He asked seriously.

"Are you ill?" Dulaque asked. He had no other explanation for his behavior.

"Ha! I've never felt better in my life. How clear is my thinking? How good do I feel? How good do I look?" Flynn droned on as the others watched from an open window in the next room over.

"We need to get that apple away from him. It makes people evil." Cassandra told the group.

"I can get it." Ezekiel smirked, finally confident in his own ability.

"I don't think so." Jake mumbled. OF COURSE! Now that he could do something right, the others wouldn't let him. "The last thing we need right now is an evil you."

"Somebody has to get that apple away from him." Eve supplied.

"As I said to Jane Eyre once, during a very aggressive match of croquet, the best offence is really just a good, offence." Jenkins told them, leaving them looking confused. He tapped Ezekiel on the shoulder and they walked back into the Annex together.

"The presidency would be easy, but that's not real power. Presidency of the world? All the nations answer to me. Yes, and think of the wardrobe." Flynn was monologuing with his feet on the table when Jenkins grabbed them and forced them off.

"You're a disgrace to this library and to Judson, now, release that apple." Jenkins ordered.

"Oooh. You don't say that name." Flynn put the apple into his pocket.

"In fact, I don't even know why I let you stay here, you miserable charity case." When Flynn turned around he found Ezekiel standing incredibly close to him. He bumped into him going around him and unbeknownst to Flynn, grabbed the Apple of Discord.

"Now, I call for a vote of no confidence and I expect each and every one of you pathetic excuses of-" Flynn paused and realized he was no longer under the apple's powers.

"Yes, Flynn?" Jenkins asked. Flynn patted his pockets.

"Uh… let me finish, pathetic excuses for bad because you're all wonderful, and we need to put all of this foolishness behind us before things get out of hand. Um, unrestrained magic can get a little dangerous. I mean all it really takes is one lunatic, one pol pot, one Nero, one apple wielding, overworked, underappreciated but genuinely kind of a nice guy, who has access to that kind of power, to make it all go away. And it can't all go away unless, and this is really the take away here, we have a Library. That is why we need a Librarian. To protect us all." Flynn finished his eloquent speech as Jenkins and Ezekiel returned to the others.

"You pickpocketed the apple?!" Eve asked, kind of amazed.

"Yeah. Jenkins distracted him. Pretty neat." Ezekiel told them shortly, almost like he was annoyed.

"Are you evil?" Cassandra asked, looking worried.

"No, don't feel any different." Ezekiel lied.

"Are you immune?" Jake asked before thinking for a moment. "No. He's already the worst version of himself." Eve finished with Stone in perfect unison.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Ezekiel huffed, he was careful in not revealing what was truly happening on the inside.

"What were you thinking?" Eve questioned Jenkins.

"Wha- I was actually just thinking that I now appreciate the advantage of having both a Librarian and a thief." Jenkins smiled at Ezekiel and patted him on the chest as he walked by. Ezekiel tossed the apple into the air before following him. Jenkins went and found a case for the apple but didn't it inside of it yet. Ezekiel kept a tight grip on it as he entered the Annex, where the conclave was happening, once again. He saw Flynn talking to the group about why the world needed Librarians while making grandiose gestures with his hands.

"And that being said, Mr. Arbiter, I believe we have a motion on the floor." Flynn moved himself out of the way to allow Ezekiel to speak.

"All in favor of removing the Librarians? Or whatever." No one spoke.

"All opposed?" The group sang out with a thunderous "Nay!"

"Sounds pretty unanimous to me." Ezekiel smiled.

"No! We don't agree." Mr. Drake thundered and got very close to Ezekiel's face, but this time, Ezekiel wasn't afraid, he was holding the apple. "This is not done. You have not returned the stolen pearl at all. You have not fulfilled your duties as Arbiter and for that defeat we will wreak our vengeance and-" Mr. Drake was cut off by a confident voice.

"Shouldn't you have bolted the minute this turned up mate?" Ezekiel held up the apple. "You see, ladies, gents, the minute I heard the story of the stolen pearl my very good thief brain began thinking." Ezekiel moved toward the door. He didn't realize that Flynn was looking at him with something no one had ever looked at him with before. Pride. Mr. Drake turned around and began to try to leave. "Who had access to the Eastern Dragon's Trust? Any idea who that could be Mr. Drake?" The dragon man turned around sheepishly from his position in the doorway.

He looked between Flynn and Ezekiel who were standing side by side. Then he made a gesture that showed that Ezekiel had won. Flynn looked at the younger thief in both surprise and happiness. Ezekiel stepped forward to the glass case and put the Apple of Discord inside of it, happy to finally be rid of the infernal device. Jenkins laughed slightly as he walked away with it. Ezekiel turned back to the conclave.

"And that, my dear friends, is how you arbit." Flynn gave him a strange look. "Arbit? Arbiturize? Right! Conclave over. Everybody out." He pointed towards the exit as he said this.

Jenkins was busy saying his goodbyes to the members of the conclave, while Flynn and Baird had their own discussion in the Annex. Ezekiel wandered the halls until he found himself in the reading room. He took the opportunity in the quiet atmosphere to sit down and think. The others believed that the Apple didn't affect him in any way. That wasn't necessarily true. He had felt anger like he never felt it before and it terrified him. He always believed that he would never be anything like his father. He never even imagined he would be angry enough to want to hurt someone but when he was holding the apple it took all of his will power to not attack Jake. Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

Ezekiel tried to ignore Jake as he started towards the group, instead turning to look at Jenkins. A rush of emotions that Ezekiel hadn't felt in several years hit him and he couldn't help but be terrified. How could he trust and respect someone, especially a mentoring sort of relation, when the last time had quite literally ended up with his mentor stabbing him in the back? He shook his thoughts away as the old caretaker turned his attention to him.

Jenkins sent a prideful smile to Ezekiel. Ezekiel nodded his thanks to his caretaker, knowing something had shifted in their view of each other.

Jones couldn't help but think that finally, _finally_, someone believed in him, someone respected and trusted him to have their back. And god, Ezekiel almost told the old man he loved him for it.

His eyes and smile were directed to Jenkins. He hoped his words would convey his true feelings to the caretaker. Jenkins nodded his head as though to say 'you're welcome' and 'I understand you now' and 'thanks for bringing my spirit back'.

Ezekiel looked over at Cassandra, smiling on the outside, not sure what to think about her actions of the day on the inside. He couldn't erase the hurt he felt from Cass, Stone, and Baird thinking he was too pathetic to actually be able to do something. He hadn't expected any less from Flynn though. Flynn had hated him from the start.

If he was completely honest with himself, his hurt feelings over the others not believing him to be anything other than an idiot clown definitely played into what seemed to be a shaky relationship with his coworkers from the moment he had become a librarian.

"I don't feel any different." Jones lied through his teeth. He definitely felt something. Something was definitely happening inside of him. Weighing down in his chest, stomach feeling like it was eternally dropping in disappointment. His ears filled with the cruel words of his father. The sobs and apologies of his weakening mother.

Stone looked worriedly at him, seeming to notice his darkening disposition. Stone, Baird, Flynn, and Cassandra all just stood there staring at him and seemed to accept that Ezekiel was the worst version of himself as what his immunity to the apple must be.

"Hey. Are you okay? And don't start with the "Why do you care" crap because I do." Jake sat down beside him.

"I don't know. It's weird." Ezekiel tried to explain.

"It's alright if you don't know. Look, I'm sorry about how tough on you I've been but that's only because I care about you. I never had a little brother but if I did, I imagine he'd be a bit like you." Jake laughed as he bumped his shoulder into Ezekiel, who suddenly looked a lot paler. He had felt pretty terrible all day but this moment took the cake. "Hey, are you alright? You don't look so good." Jake turned suddenly to him.

The world was foggy, shifting in and out clarity. He felt warm and exhausted but extremely nauseous. Then everything turned into absolute pain and darkness. Jake jumped up as Ezekiel slumped over with a whimper. He gathered his light form into his arms and brought him out into the main room. The rest of the team jumped up as they saw him.

"Again?" Eve asked as they laid him down on the cot.

"This was different. He seemed like he was in pain." Jake explained.

"Is it from the same thing as before?" Jenkins asked, voice full of concern.

"No, the opposite I think." Jake explained.

"Jake, what's going on? Is there something you, Jenkins and Ezekiel haven't told us?" Eve asked. Jake looked at the group, having to make a decision between divulging Ezekiel's secret or possibly saving his life.


	16. Chapter 16

**Hey all, Everything'sGonnaBeAlright here! I know it's been ages since a chapter was last posted and I just wanted to really quickly say that I take full responsibility for that. I am really thankful for all of your, and especially FGaT's, patience. The slowness of this chapter coming out is partially due to my ever present writer's block, and then personal issues that made it difficult for me to find the time to format afterwards when FGaT picked it up and made it this awesome chapter that it is. If that made absolutely no sense I apologize... point is, as always is the case, the time this chapter took is on me. FGaT is an awesome co-writer that is an incredible writer and is very, very patient. Hope you all enjoy! **

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**Before I forget, **

**PLEASE READ THIS LIST OF WARNINGS TO PREPARE FOR ANY AND ALL PROBLEMS THAT YOU COULD ENCOUNTER FROM READING THIS.**

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**_TRIGGER WARNINGS:_**

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**ABUSE **

**(NOT JUST MENTIONS IN THIS CHAPTER, PEEPS! WE DELVE INTO IT A BIT IN THIS CHAPTER.)**

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**DRUG USE **

**(THIS ONE SHOULDN'T REALLY BE A SURPRISE AT THIS POINT, BUT I FIGURED I MIGHT AS WELL WHILE I WAS AT IT.)**

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**THOUGHTS, MENTIONS, AND... STRUGGLES... WITH SUICIDE **

**(BE VERY CAREFUL WITH THIS, PLEASE! AND THE OTHERS ALSO! THIS IS ONE I STRUGGLE WITH OFTEN AND I UNDERSTAND THAT SOMETIMES YOU JUST IGNORE THE WARNINGS AND THINK THAT YOU CAN HANDLE IT, BUT I OFTEN FIND THAT IT CAN ACTUALLY MAKE YOU FEEL WORSE. I'M SURE IT'S MUCH THE SAME FOR DRUGS AND BEING ABUSED, BUT THIS AND THE NEXT ONE ARE THE ONES I KNOW AND UNDERSTAND.)**

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**GENERAL DEPRESSION AND SELF DOUBT/HATE **

**(THIS, LIKE DRUG USE, HAS BEEN IN IT FROM THE START, BUT THE THOUGHTS ARE MORE PROMINENT IN THIS CHAPTER, HENCE THE PREVIOUS WARNING.)**

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**SLIGHT VIOLENCE _(THIS DOES NOT INCLUDE THE ABUSE, AS IT WAS AFOREMENTIONED)_  
**

** (NOTHING TOO MAJOR, BUT I FIGURE I MIGHT AS WELL MENTION IT AS FGaT AND I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT NOTHING WILL MAKE ANYONE HAVE ANY PROBLEMS.)**

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**Hopefully that is it and I didn't miss anything, but please, _please_ be careful. We love you guys!**

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**YOU KNOW YOUR LIMITS AND WHAT YOU CAN HANDLE**

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"_What the hell are you doing outside of your room!? Dae! Get that little idiot back in his room before he breaks something! I have members of the cabinet coming to meet with me and I don't need that little bastard spreading lies!_"

"_Darling, wouldn't it be w-wise to- Ah! I just th-thought perhaps they should meet Li. The public loves him so. And- and I know he'll be on his best behavior…_" _Ezekiel's mother cowered as she stood in front of her son. She was clearly sick and very pale but she was still adorned in the finest dress and the most outlandish makeup. Her husband had made her look like a doll to impress the esteemed members of the government and his other rich friends._

"_His best behavior? His best behavior!? Nothing about the boy is the best of anything! He doesn't have a head on his shoulders! He can't even __**read**__!_" _The man paced, face as red as a cherry. Ezekiel, or Li in this case, was standing behind his mother. He knew not to let that sort of thing get to him, but somehow it always hurt._

"_He- He can __**kind of**__ read, dear. The doctors say it's a common problem.._" _His mother was a saint. She saw the best in everyone. That was why so many horrible things happened to her._

"**_Common_**_!? What would I want a __**common**__ son for!?What use is a common little brat!? He's useless, worthless! He's a damn disappointment_!" _Li felt tears well up in his eyes. __**Disappointment**__. That's all he'd ever be._

"_He's- He's not…_" _Dae was lying to herself, Li was sure of it._

"_Oh yes, he is! What the hell!? What dream world are you living in?!_" _Ezekiel's father approached with haste, raising hand as he came._

"_Please forgive us, Chul-Moo!_" Dae called out as he threw her aside, "_He's just a child!"_

_Chul-Moo grabbed ahold of Li's throat and held him in the air. The world began to go blurry as he lost oxygen._

That's when Ezekiel woke up, gasping for breath and holding his throat at the memory of his father's iron grip. He ran a hand over his face as he recalled the events of the night… nights? How long had he been out this time? It didn't matter. He had fucked up, again. He needed to stop letting himself slip and get so close to these people. He knew that one day, he would mess up so badly that they would hate him and leave him, or worse.

'_I have to get out of here. I gotta run. Too many questions, too many stares. There's no way I'm going to get out of answering if I stay…_' He winced as he leaned back against the headboard. His mind was swimming, making it impossible to focus.

'_C'mon Ezekiel, you knew you couldn't stay forever anyway! You knew from the start that this was a temporary thing! Just another job._' Ezekiel told himself as smacked his cheeks a few times. He stood, dizzy, and walked to the bathroom. Suddenly, as nauseous as before, he dry heaved into the toilet. He had nothing left in himself to vomit. When the vomiting subsided, he stood weakly and turned to the mirror, glaring at his exhausted reflection.

Turning slowly to avoid getting too dizzy, he observed his bedroom. He noted how bare and impersonal he had left it. Ezekiel was glad to know that regardless of what his mind and heart had felt, his mentality hadn't changed. He was entirely prepared for a quick getaway, still having of his meager belongings packed in a ratty backpack.

The hard part, he knew, would be getting past his friends-no, coworkers, who were all sure to be on high alert after his _third_ time passing out. At least this time was due to withdrawal, Stone would be happier about that. _Bastard_.

Ezekiel had mapped the annex for possible escape routes almost as soon as they started working at the Library. The annex had plenty of escape routes, but that was only after getting through the main part. The main part of the annex was out in the open and made it very easy to be caught.

Luckily, however, Ezekiel was used to having to go into stealth mode, not to mention that he was in good enough shape that he could outrun anyone trying to stop him. Once he got through the door, he was home free. But where to go?

He could go back to London. There was a _job_ waiting for him there, but he hated being tied down by a job, even one of that caliber.

There was back 'home' in Australia. But quite frankly, nothing good had happened in his time in Australia. Only pain and suffering.

He supposed he could just state jump, but it was fairly likely that the others could find him much more easily if he chose that option.  
He could go live somewhere entirely different. Sure he'd traveled plenty, but living in a different country, _again_, was quite daunting.

Ezekiel decided, after anxiously thinking on the problem, that there needed to be more continents. The fact that someone could come in at any time and see that he was awake wasn't helping his anxiety and he itched to escape.

Italy. He decided, eventually, on Italy. It had beautiful scenery, great wine, kind people, and warm sunshine. Could he ask for a better location?

Now the only obstacles he had to face left were not passing out, getting past everyone without them noticing, and making himself untraceable. Yeah, definitely a walk in the park. Oh, and he forgot not puking. That's a big one on the list.

He began filling up his backpack with the clothes that had been strewn all over the room. As he thought about life in Italy, he began thinking about the others. If he got out without being caught, how would they react. Stone would be angry, of course, but would he be worried? Eve would be. She would come after him, but she'd never find him. That would make her feel like a failure. Jenkins would get that stern, serious look on his face and pretend like he was glad. He would be lying. And Cassandra… He didn't even want to imagine how upset she would be. As he thought about this, he paused. Should he leave? Then the darkness came back over his mind. Who was he kidding? They'd probably be happy that he left. One less **_liability_**.

He pulled the backpack over his shoulders, stumbling back a step before catching himself. It was heavier than he remembered; either that or he was weaker. He took a deep breath and steeled himself. He didn't have the time or energy to be focusing on sentimentalities. He glanced back at his room once more before sneaking into the Annex.

It had been going relatively well, in fact, he didn't know where it went wrong. One minute he was silently checking to make sure the coast was clear from behind a bookcase, the next someone pulled his shoulder, forcing him to turn around. It was a rough pull, so he expected Jake. He was met with red hair and fiery eyes.

"Cass-" He started.

"Don't." She clenched her jaw. She was more angry than he had ever seen her before. "Walk." Her voice was cold and forceful. He had no other option but to stay silent, afraid of what she might say to him. He began walking and soon found himself in the center of the Annex. Jake was at a table and glanced up in confusion when he saw an infuriated Cassandra and a solemn Ezekiel enter. "Sit."

"Sticking with one-syllable words?" Ezekiel asked, trying to lighten the mood. It didn't work. She simply glared with more ferocity. It wasn't until he was sitting that she fully unleashed.

"What do you think we are? **_Stupid_**? We would've found you. You are without a doubt the most _selfish_ man I've ever met! You only care about how you're going to escape from one place and find yourself in another. Did you even think about the hearts you would be breaking?" She asked, tears of anger welling up. Jake closed his book quickly and stood.

"What do you mean _escape_?" He asked, voice cold.

"He was trying to sneak out." She took a few deep breaths as she tried to control her anger.

"Cassandra, maybe it would be best if you-" Jake touched her shoulder. She moved when he did so.

"**Left**?! No. I'm not some doll. I don't need either of you protecting me from whatever it is you think will break me. I'm a grown up, I can figure that out for myself thank you." She seethed. She turned back to Ezekiel, "I can't believe I thought that you were a nice guy! I should've known. In the end, you'll always hurt everyone, so what does it matter? You want to leave? Go ahead. I'm certainly not going to stop you. Go be someone else's **_disappointment_**." She huffed before storming away. Ezekiel felt his heart clench.

'**_Disappointment, see Li? What have I told you? There is nothing good about you. You are a useless, worthless, _****_disappointment_****_, and that is all you ever will be._**' Chul-Moo's steely voice hisses in his mind.

"She has a right to be pissed, _Jones_." Jake said his name with such venom. "She took care of you the past three days. The funny thing? She never asked what was wrong. Eve did. I didn't tell her. Maybe she should know. Then she'll see you for the coward that you are."

"**Coward?!** Leaving this situation doesn't make me cowardly. This makes me _smart_." Ezekiel spat.

"Yeah. Go ahead and think about how smart you are when you're all alone. Have fun **dying** of an overdose. That seems to be your future, but hey, that's what you _wanted_, right?" Jake sneered.

"You're in no place to judge me. You know what? I should leave. I've been alone longer than you know. I don't need phony 'friends' convincing me that I'm an even worse person. Trust me; I know exactly how bad I am!" With that, he turned and left. Jake didn't try to stop him, which Ezekiel expected. So much for sneaking out.

"_At least now I know what they really think of me._" He thought as he trudged his way home. The weather reflected his mood, rainy, gloomy, and gray. When he finally reached his apartment it took him a moment to unlock the door. He didn't know why he felt so… defeated. Like he had let everyone down.

"_Get it together Jones! You don't have friends. You never will._" He shook his head and pushed the door open.

His apartment was small, old, and not very nice. It had the basic commodities but nothing special. Most of the rooms were almost empty, just the way he liked it. He walked into his bedroom, basking in the dusty glory. He set his bag on the floor and sank down on the bed.

He rubbed his hands over his face as he thought back to Cassandra. He'd really blown that one, huh? She had been royally pissed, which he deserved. What had he become? He was one of the monsters that he had nightmares of when he was a child. Hell, even when he was an adult.

As he laid back on the bed his mind brought a new image to his head. _An orange bottle_. He knew he had a stash in his apartment. He hadn't been to his apartment in a while so it was completely untouched.  
He reached for the bottle, unscrewing the cap. He poured a few into his hand. A few more. Soon his palm was full of little white life-ruiners. That's what this was all about, right? Everything that had gone wrong for him in the past few weeks of his life was resting in the palm of his hand.

Maybe it was time he made that decision. He'd thought about it for a while. He was all alone in his damp, dark little apartment. He was all alone period. All it would take was him taking the bottle. He'd be done and no one would know or _care_. All his problems would fade away and he would finally be happy. Italy was a fantasy. Even if he went, it wouldn't be what he pictured. Nothing **ever** was.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and raised his shaking hand. With a deep sigh, he did it. Well, kind of. He did what he was meant to, he realized, as he put the pills back in the bottle.

"Such progress in such a small amount of time." Ezekiel glanced up to find Dulaque leaning against his cane confidently, "I'm astounded at how pathetic you've become. My original plan was to make you seem like a bad person in front of your team, but you seemed to do that on your own."

"Oh shut up Dulaque." Ezekiel groaned as he stood shakily.

"I'm sorry, did I hurt your feelings? How _insensitive_ of me." Dulaque grinned.

"What are you even doing here?" Ezekiel sneered.

"Just thought I would drop by. See how you were doing. That was some fight." He had a sympathetic tone that was so fake it sickened Ezekiel.

"How… how do you know about the fight?" He was suddenly curious.

"Oh Ezekiel, haven't you learned by now? I see everything. I know everything. I have people **_everywhere_**." He smiled sinisterly.

"What do you mean…" Ezekiel felt fear spike through his body. He was very aware of what Dulaque was capable of.

"I can't give you all the answers. However, you choosing to leave gives me the perfect opportunity. They're all distracted by their loss; they'd never notice what was going on until it was too late. Who to get first though? I know. Cassandra. For being so smart, she really is weak minded. I can tell you that right now she's crying into Jacob's shoulder. She's easy to mold. She was certainly easy the first time. The others, well they're more difficult. Perhaps I'll kill them." He thought for a moment, "Actually, I'll kill **_all_** of them."

"You wouldn't… you couldn't." Ezekiel half-whispered in horror.

"You should know by now that I absolutely would. I easily could. The only difficult one would be Jenkins and I have his death sentence figured out. Killing a Librarian is a simple task. You should know, you've done it." Dulaque sneered. "The time is nigh, dear thief. Enjoy your time in Italy. Do try not to think of them choking out their last breaths, knowing that yours is soon to come. You thought stabbing you was bad? Just wait until you see what I have planned." With that, Dulaque spun on his heel, leaving.

Before he could exit through the door, Ezekiel threw himself at him in a desperate attempt to stop him. He managed to pin Dulaque to the ground and get a few punches before then older man flipped him and kicked him in the stomach a few times, knocking the wind out of him.

"Just like old times, hmm? _**Ta Ta**__, Mr. Jones_." Dulaque smiled one last time before shutting the door. Ezekiel writhed on the floor, trying to catch his breath. If there was one thing for sure, it was that he was not going to Italy. He was going back to the Annex, and that meant he was going to need to apologize. Plus, Cassandra was crying on Jake. He was going to need to put a stop to that.


	17. EGBA is leaving, sorry guys

**_Sorry FGaT, I haven't been able to get in contact with you, but hope everything has been good!_**

**_Sorry to everyone that was enjoying this story but I got stuck and very depressed. (The two don't have to do with each other.) I don't really see this going anywhere but if FGaT wishes she can continue the story, she has all of the chapters and may do whatever she wishes with it, so if you ever wanna do something with this, go right ahead, FGaT! I'm just not really writing anymore and I feel worse the more I think about this just sitting here unfinished.  
_**

**_Thanks for being the awesome avid readers you are!_**

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**This_ is what FGaT has to say, she shouldn't have to always post her comments in the comment section so here's what she said;_**

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Alright so I'll be honest with you guys, we haven't been really fair to you. I mean updating once every what? Three months? I can't make any excuses for that, I've been going through a pretty rough patch myself, but it's not something you all should deal with. This fic means a lot to me. It was my favorite fanfiction. I used to anticipate every update and one day, I had the amazing opportunity to join this story. I don't want this fic to die before it ends as I think of it as my favorite fic to ever write. I know this is probably disappointing for some. I get it, trust me. That's why I'm going to revamp this story. EGBA has given me access to every chapter. It doesn't feel right to be taking over what was solely her's for so long, so I'm going to stick with the idea that began this fic, but I'm going to rewrite entirely. If it's okay with all of you, I'd love to give this fic a proper burial when it's actually done. For now, I'm going to keep writing and maybe you guys will enjoy it. I hope you do. Much love, Fangirlandtheories.

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**_Love you guys, and love you, FGaT! Thanks, everyone, so much for everything and I'll miss you all!_**


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